Performance enhancement of the conventional CFAR processors in ideal and multitarget environments

Abstract

Optimum processor has received considerable attention in many areas of practical applications since it represents a reference tool against which the performance of any unknown processor is compared under any situation of operating conditions. In the field of radar target detection, the fixed-threshold detector is our optimum processor against which the performance of any developed version is compared. On the other hand, the CA procedure gives the highest detection performance in homogeneous situation while the existence of heterogeneities in practical operational environments renders this processor ineffective. The OS is an alternative to the CA processor, which trades a small loss in detection performance, relative to the CA scheme, in ideal conditions for much less performance degradation in non-ideal background environments. To benefice the merits of these two schemes, their hybrid versions have been suggested hoping in improving the conventional performance aiming at approaching the behavior of the optimum processor.

This paper deals with the analysis of these hybrid algorithms in the case where the radar receiver post-detection integrates M sweeps in its signal processing for deciding the presence or absence of the searching target. Exact formulas for their detection and false alarm performances are derived in the absence as well as in the presence of spurious targets. The resulted formulas are numerically evaluated and the performances of the developed versions are compared with that of the original schemes.