Ground Clutter Detection for Weather Radar Using Phase Fluctuation Index

Our aim, in this paper, is to develop a clutter detection algorithm to provide more representative weather radar observations. The new discriminant function based on the phase fluctuation index (PFI) is introduced to achieve a better performance for clutter detection algorithms. Statistical properties of the PFI for pure weather and ground clutter are presented. A Bayesian classifier is used to make an optimal decision to detect clutter mixed with weather echoes. The performance improvements are demonstrated by applying the PFI detection algorithm to radar data collected by a WSR-88D polarimetric weather radar. Our proposed clutter detection algorithm is compared to several other detection algorithms and reveals the PFI algorithm yields the highest probability of detection.