GLRT Detection for Range and Doppler Distributed Targets in non-Gaussian Clutter

A generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) is derived for adaptive detection of range and Doppler distributed targets. The clutter is modelled as a spherically invariant random process (SIRP) and its texture component is range dependent (heterogeneous clutter). We suppose here that the speckle component covariance matrix is known or estimated thanks to a secondary data set. Thus, unknown parameters to be estimated are local texture values, the complex amplitudes and frequencies of all scattering centers. The proposed detector assumes a priori knowledge on the spatial distribution of the target and has the precious property of constant false alarm rate (CFAR) with the assumption of a known speckle covariance matrix or by the use of frequency agility