Impulsive noise excision and performance analysis

Interference can be a major impediment to the operational performance of radar systems. A common source of interference is impulsive noise which may appear due to regional lighting discharges or local man-made noise sources. Impulsive noise is characterized as having a large amplitude and short duration and therefore only affects a small portion of the time series. Unpredictable frequency distortion may occur during the impulsive noise period, which is partially caused by the non-perfect response of the receiver front end. In this paper we present several linear prediction methods that are used to remove the impulsive noise without introducing frequency leakage over the signal band. Theoretical performances are analyzed and compared for these methods. The effectiveness of prediction methods relative to traditional excision techniques are also demonstrated using experimental data.