A target detection algorithm using polarimetric notch filter.

When vehicles and ships are observed by radar, echoes from the target are buried in the echoes (clutter) from the ground and the sea surface in the background and detection becomes difficult. Previously, a method known as a Polarimetric Whitening Filter (PWF) was proposed as a target detection technique that focuses on the difference in the polarizations of the clutter and the target and verified its effectiveness. In addition, the authors proposed the Polarimetric Notch Filter (PNF) as a clutter suppression scheme in an environment with a low signal-to-clutter power ratio (SCR) and verified the achievement of superior improvement in the SCR performance. In this paper, we propose a target detection algorithm that obtains a constant probability of false alarm by whitening the polarization characteristic of the residual clutter power after suppressing the clutter power by the PNF. From the results of evaluations by computer simulation, we see that the SCR improvement factor of the proposed method was on average about 1.5 dB better than conventional PWF, but the target detection probability was nearly identical. In addition, the results of the performance evaluation of the polarization data of the noise of asphalt and vehicles acquired by polarimetric FMCW radar in the 95-GHz band where the SCR improvement factors of PNF and PWF were 7.44 and 5.85 dB, respectively, and the SCR improvement factor of PNF was 1.59 dB better. Although the target detection probability was somewhat higher for PNF than PWF, they were nearly identical. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn Pt 1, 88(3): 33–43, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (<URL>www.interscience.wiley.com</URL>). DOI 10.1002/ecja.20158 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]