Small target detection in heavy sea clutter

This paper mainly deals with the detection problem of the target with low Radar Cross-Section (RCS) in heavy sea clutter with unknown Power Spectral Density (PSD). Since the performance of traditional single-scan detectors degrades as the target of interest is smaller and weaker, three adaptive detectors, based upon a two-step design procedure, are proposed within the framework of the multiple-scan signal model. Firstly, the Multiple-Scan Detectors (MSDs) are derived according to the Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT), Rao and Wald tests respectively under the assumption that the PSD of primary data is known. Secondly, three strategies are resorted to estimate the unknown PSD, and their Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) properties are assessed. Finally, numerical simulation results show that the adaptive MSDs outperform the traditional single-scan detector using Monte Carlo method.