Configuration and performance analysis of space-time adaptive processor for airborne radar

The space-time adaptive processing (STAP) technique for airborne early warning (AEW) radar is investigated. First, the STAP configurations are put into four typical classes based on the different processing domain (space), which are the element-pulse domain configuration, beam-pulse domain configuration, element-Doppler domain configuration and the beam-Doppler domain configuration. Secondly, a unified solution of the reduced-dimension STAP is given. Thirdly, how to simplify the processor configuration is studied in view of the high performance and the convenience of the real-time realization. A new concept called subspace clutter degrees of freedom (DOFs) is proposed, which is available for designing a reduced dimension processing system. Finally, the performance of several processors based on different domains are analyzed and compared by computer simulation.