Small-target detection in sea clutter based on the Radon Transform

Small target detection in sea clutter is a challenging problem. This paper presents a novel and heuristic approach based on the application of the Radon Transform to a set of consecutive range profiles. The performance of the detection technique has been tested with real sea clutter data, acquired with a high resolution CWLFM (continuous wave linear frequency modulated) millimetre-wave radar demonstrator. Results show that performing the detection on the Radon domain makes the detection of very small targets possible while keeping the false alarm rate controlled.