A three-dimensional displaced phase center antenna condition for clutter cancellation

In moving radar, e.g. airborne radar, the clutter from land and sea needs to be suppressed in order to detect the target. One approach to total cancellation of the clutter is Displaced Phase Center Antenna (DPCA). DPCA assumes that the antenna elements are positioned on a line parallel to the velocity vector of the radar platform so that the elements can take each others positions at different points of times. This paper theoretically investigates if it is possible with other antenna element positions, e.g. in three dimensions, for a total cancellation of the clutter. We arrive at a condition which conforms to the principle that the elements should take each others positions at different times but allows other antennas than the single line parallel to the velocity vector. Our condition could be used as constraints in an optimization problem where the target signal performance is optimized. The multipulse DPCA condition is one solution to our condition.We also give two examples of non-linear antennas fulfilling our condition.