A Coherent Detection and Velocity Estimation Algorithm for the High-Speed Target Based on the Modified Location Rotation Transform

High-speed target often suffers from the range walk (RW) problem within the process of long-time coherent integration (CI). The aim of this paper is to present a new coherent detection algorithm, i.e., modified location rotation transform (MLRT), which could effectively correct the RW and estimate the velocity of the high-speed target. In particular, the MLRT algorithm could rotate the coordinate locations of echo data to remove the RW and estimate the velocity via searching the rotation angles. Then, the CI of target's energy is obtained via the Fourier transform along the slow-time direction. The advantage of the MLRT is that it could achieve superior integration and detection performance and avoid the blind speed sidelobe effect without increasing the computational complexity, in comparison with other representative algorithms. Simulations and real data processing are provided to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of the proposed algorithm.