Signal Decomposition by Using the S-Method With Application to the Analysis of HF Radar Signals in Sea-Clutter

This paper presents a new approach to the time-frequency signal analysis and synthesis, using the eigenvalue decomposition method. It is based on the S-method, the time-frequency representation that can produce a distribution equal or close to a sum of the Wigner distributions of individual signal components. The new time-frequency signal decomposition method is evaluated on the simulated and experimental high-frequency surface-wave radar (HFSWR) data. Results demonstrate that it provides an effective way for analyzing and detecting maneuvering air targets with significant velocity changes, including target signal separation from the heavy clutter. The analysis shows that this method can provide additional insight into the interpretation and processing of radar signals, with respect to the traditional Fourier transform based methods currently used by the HFSWRs. The proposed method could also be used in other signal processing applications.