3

MTI AND PULSE DOPPLER RADA

Based on an analysis of antenna radiation patterns and experimental data, Staudaher' 8 gives the
standard deviation of the clutter spectrum due to platform motion as

o>m = 0.6~* (4.37)

where vx is the horizontal component of the velocity perpendicular to the antenna

pointing-direction and a is the effective horizontal aperture width. The antenna beamwidlh is
assumed to be approximated by fls = X/a. [Equation (4.37) is not inconsistent with the simple
derivation of Eq. (4.36).] If the mean doppler-frequency shift of the clutter echo is perfectly
compensated, the limitations on the improvement factor due to clutter spread can be found by
assuming a gaussian spectral shape and substituting the standard deviation of Eq. (4.37) into
the expression of Eq. (4.27) to obtain

' ifi\\i2nvMTt} (4.38)

5j where N, is lite number of delay lines in the MTI processor. If (he clutter spread (Trmdueto the
platform motion combines with the clutter spread ac due to internal clutter motion sucb that
+ <Tpm, the MTI improve-
the total standard deviation <rr of the clutter spectrum is a\ >
ment factor for the total clutter spectrum is
/,
(4.39)
2rt(oc2 + o
The solid curves of Fig. 4.35 plot this equation for a three-pulse delay-line canceller (N( = 2).
If the widening of the spectrum is a result oftheradar platform's velocity, its effects can be
mitigated by making the radar antenna appear stationary. This might be accomplished with

too i ------

3
= 0 (both)
01
Ratio
ol
clutter

spectral width to pulse repetition frequency icrc/fn)

Figure 4.35 Solid curves show the iiiiptdvniiriit factor of a three-pulse canceler limited by platform
motion [Eq. (4.39)). Dashed curve* show the effect or the DPCA compensation, x is the fraction of the
antenna aperture that the nntenn» ii iliiplnml prt titlerpulse period (x = 0 corresponds to no platform
motion.) (From Andrews."')
(JjHT INTRODUCTION TO RADAR SYSTEMS

in this fashion, the clutter frequency can be measured directly by sampling the received echo
signal over an interval of range. The sampled range interval is selected so lhat clutter is likely to
be the dominant signal. From this measurement of clutter doppler within the sampled range
interval, compensation is made over the entire range of observation either by changing the
reference signal from the coho or by adjusting the phase shifter inserted in one of the arms of the
delay-line canceler. Generally, the average doppler frequency or phase shift is obtained by
averaging the sampled range-interval over a number of pulse repetition periods. A single
doppler measurement and subsequent compensation might not suffice over the entire range of
the radar, especially if the radar is elevated as in an aircraft. The doppler shift from clutter will be
range dependent with an elevated radar since the doppler frequency is a function of the
elevation angle from the radar to the clutter cell. Thus more than one doppler measurement
may be necessary to compensate for the variation of the clutter doppler with range.
An MTI radar that measures the average doppler frequency shift of clutter qver a sampled
range interval and uses this measurement to cause the clutter mean-doppler-frequency to
coincide with the null of the MTI doppler-filter-frequency response over the remainder of the
range of observation is called a clutter-lock MTI.
One version of a clutter-lock MTI is TACCAR, which stands for time-averaged-clutter
coherent airborne radar. 8 Although the name was originally applied to a particular airborne MTI
radar system developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, it continues to be used to refer to the
clutter-lock technique that was the special feature of that system. The name is even retained
when the technique is applied to a shipboard radar or when the radar is on land and used for the
compensation of moving clutter. The chief feature of TACCAR is the use of a
voltage-controlled oscillator arranged in a phase-lock loop. As with other clutter-lock
methods, the correction for the clutter doppler is obtained from the averaged measurement of
the clutter doppler frequency within a sampled range interval.
Other methods that have been proposed for compensating the clutter doppler shift seen by
a moving radar include the "matrix MTI" 60 for implementation in digital MTI, and a "trial and
error" technique8968 that provides simultaneously a number of possible doppler corrections and
uses that one which produces the minimum residue over the sampled range interval.
Still another technique that is attractive when it can be applied, is to use a doppler
processor with a rejection notch wide enough to reject the clutter doppler even when the radar
platform is in motion. This is applicable only when the first blind speed is high (a low radar
frequency and/or high prf) and when the platform speed is low, as it would be with a
ship-mounted radar.
Generally, most clutter-lock MTI techniques do not adequately eliminate both stationary
and moving clutter when they appear simultaneously within the same range resolution cell. A
TACCAR, for example, might be designed to reject ground clutter close in, and weather or
chaff at a different doppler at ranges beyond the ground clutter; but not to cancel two different
clutter doppler frequencies simultaneously.8 An exception is the adaptive MTI'1-65 which can
adapt to any type of clutter. Using technology similar to that of the antenna sidelobe canceler,
nulls are adaptively placed at those frequencies containing large clutter. A three-loop adaptive
canceler, for example, can adaptively place three nulls at three different frequencies or it can
place the three nulls so as to make a single wide notch, depending on the nature of the clutter
spectrum.

Compensation for clutter doppler spread. The simple expression of Eq. (4.36) shows that the
spread in the clutter spectrum is a function of the angle 6 between the velocity vector of the
moving platform and the antenna beam-pointing direction. It also depends on the wavelength.