Algorithm development for an airborne real-time STAP demonstration

A description of STAP algorithms used in the May 1996 Real Time Multichannel Airborne Radar Measurement (RT-MCARM) program is presented. The system collected and processed IF sampled data from 16 phased array radar receiver channels, performing IF to baseband conversion, Doppler processing, adaptive clutter cancellation, pulse compression, and formation of multiple receive beams within an intentionally broadened transmit beam. Selective PRI stagger was implemented in Doppler regions of strong clutter to provide increased cancellation. An innovative method of adaptation with variable beam constraints was developed, which allows preservation of target phase across boundaries between range intervals with differing clutter statistics. In addition to improved angle estimation compared to unconstrained adaptive processing, the constraint makes it possible to perform pulse compression after beamforming thereby reducing the computational requirements.