New Parameter Estimation and Detection Algorithm for High Speed Small Target

Target detection and parameter estimation are the principal problems of radar applications. The detection and parameter estimation for high-speed small targets are challenging for narrowband radar since the target may only occupy one range cell with small reflectivity. In addition, the high speed makes the target shift through range cells during the observation period, which makes it difficult to improve the target's reflecting energy coherent accumulation and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). An algorithm for high-speed small target detection and parameter estimation with narrowband radar is proposed in this paper. Firstly three target motion parameters, i.e., the cross-range frequency modulation rate, ambiguous Doppler frequency, and fold factor are estimated one by one. Then based on the estimated parameters, a target detection method is proposed. In addition, we also analyze the detection performance under estimation error. After that, an improved method for fold factor estimation is presented. Simulation results have proved the validity of the proposed algorithm.