General space-time clutter model for multi-channel airborne radar

Ground clutter of looking-down airborne radar is spread in Doppler because of the platform motion, and thus the interested moving targets may be masked by the ground clutter. In order to enhance the performance of clutter suppression, the clutter characteristics should be analysed in detail. So here, a general clutter model which suits for the conventional-phased array radar, multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar, and hybrid MIMO-phased array radar, all with arbitrary array shape, whether in monostatic or bistatic applications, is developed. Clutter characteristics under two typical scenarios are presented by simulation examples, simultaneously; the effectiveness of the general clutter model is demonstrated.