Bistatic STAP performance analysis in radar applications

In this paper, we consider the performance of several space-time adaptive processing (STRP) algorithms in a bistatic airborne radar application. Specific consideration is given to the effect of bistatic clutter spectral dispersion on covariance estimation and the algorithm's resulting clutter rejection capability. Our prime research focus emphasizes adaptive processing methods capable of high performance with efficient utilization of training data requiring no spectral compensation for dispersion mitigation; i.e., methods capable of operation with training data from radar range cells located in close proximity to the primary range test cell. Algorithm performance is assessed using the output signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) compared to that of the matched filter with known covariance.