Experimental trials on non-Gaussian environmental noise mitigation for surface-wave over-the-horizon radar by adaptive antenna array processing

Multivariate environmental noise data has been collected by the 32-sensor linear antenna array of a surface-wave (SW) high-frequency (HF) over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) experimental facility in tropical Australia. We demonstrate the strongly impulsive nature of the atmospheric HF noise, and that lightning strikes are spatially well localised, making stationary non-Gaussian models inappropriate for such multivariate noise modelling. While the stationary S/spl alpha/S models could be appropriate as scalar (single receiver) descriptions, we suggest that point processes provide a more suitable framework, and specifically, allow us to design an efficient multivariate impulsive noise mitigation algorithm.