Real Aperture Imaging using Sparse Optimisation with Application to Low-Angle Tracking

Estimating the angle of arrival of a low-altitude target over the sea surface is made difficult due to the coherent multipath interference caused by the target image. A real aperture imaging technique for estimating azimuth and elevation of targets using a phased array multichannel radar, as described by Berry et al [1], is applied to this classical problem of suppressing low-angle multipath signals received by a naval radar from a low-flying target. The degree of spatial resolution which can be usefully attained is explored; this depends on many factors and the nonlinear problem formulation is not easily amenable to analysis. It is found that the technique is feasible for resolving the direct target signal, its specular reflection and multiple diffuse reflections even when the signals would be combined by a conventional beamformer to form a multipath null.