A Clutter Suppression Algorithm via Enhanced Sparse Bayesian Learning for Airborne Radar

The traditional space–time adaptive processing (STAP) method based on sparse Bayesian learning (SBL) has the problems of low computational efficiency and slow convergence speed. In this article, a novel SBL approach based on a statistical threshold is proposed to address these issues. To discriminate between the active and inactive atoms of the dictionary, we first develop an adaptive decision test. Next, the adaptive decision test is integrated into the SBL method, which increases its accuracy and convergence rate. In addition, the detection threshold has an important property that is independent of signal and noise power. Therefore, the adaptive decision test is robust to external changes. Numerous simulations demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has excellent clutter suppression performance and fast convergence rate.