Use of Stepped Carrier Frequency in Fast Scan Mode to Detect Small Targets on the Sea Surface

• Published in: IEEE transactions on aerospace and electronic systems 2023-10, Vol.59 (5), p.5363-5377
• Main Authors: Choi, Inoh, Cha, Sangbin, Kim, Kyungtae, Park, Sanghong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Carrier frequencies; Clutter; Fourier transforms; Radial velocity; Target detection
• ISSN: 0018-9251; 1557-9603
• DOI: 10.1109/TAES.2023.3254513

To detect a small target on the sea surface, we propose a detection algorithm that operates in three steps: 1) representation of a 3-D complex cube in the (radial range, pulse time, and scan time) domain by using stepped carrier frequency in fast scan mode; 2) intrascan integration to transform complex cube from the pulse time domain to the radial velocity domain by using Fourier transform; and 3) interscan integration to detect a small target by using a conventional optimal coherent detector with a Fourier relationship between stepped carrier frequency and initial radial range, and a discriminator between a true target and false targets. The proposed method improves the ability to detect a small target and reduces the sensitivity to sea clutter despite relatively low radial range resolution. In experiments, our proposed method could perform accurate and robust detection of a small target.