A Reduced-Dimensional STAP Scheme for End-Fire Array Airborne Radar

Compared with traditional broadside array, end-fire array has the advantages of low profile and strong directional radiation thereby is well-suited for airborne platform to detect moving target. Similar to the airborne radar with broadside array, the end-fire array airborne radar (EFAAR) also face the challenge of suppressing strong ground/sea clutter in practical application. However, the existing researches on clutter suppression for EFAAR primarily focus on the column-Doppler domain, while neglecting the clutter three-dimensional (3D) coupling characteristic. In this paper, a space-time 3D clutter signal model for EFAAR that incorporates the row spatial frequency, column spatial frequency and Doppler frequency is firstly constructed. Then, the clutter coupling characteristics in the row-column-Doppler 3D domain are analyzed in detail. Finally, a novel clutter suppression scheme for three typical scenarios is proposed according to the clutter distribution. Simulation results validate the superiority of the proposed scheme in both clutter suppression performance and training sample requirements.