Comparison of STAP algorithms for airborne radar

Researchers have developed and examined space-time adaptive processing (STAP) schemes to cope with the clutter spectral spreading that occurs for a radar mounted on a moving platform. Analysis shows these schemes have great potential when used with good estimates of the interference-plus-noise statistics. In practical situations these estimates may be very inaccurate. This is the case studied here. A general formulation of a STAP algorithm is defined and several specific cases are described and studied. Both simulated data and measured radar data are used in the tests. The results indicate that STAP schemes can be developed which will perform well when operating with limited information and poor estimates of the interference-plus-noise environment. Further development and study are needed to identify the best STAP schemes for this purpose