Signal processing consideration for a millimeter wave seeker

Since the reflectivity characteristics from target and clutter are considerably different at millimeter wave frequencies, one should not consider the same signal processing philosophies as it's used at lower frequencies. To derive the full advantage of improved resolution capability at such high frequencies the target and clutter signature and their statistical properties should be considered in the design of the operation millimeter wave radar seekers. We are proposing a statistical signal processing approach which can be incorporated in the design of constant false alarm processor of an airborne millimeter wave seeker. This scheme consists of three distinct functional units, (I) An adaptive filter for noise elimination and decorrelation of signal and clutter, (II) A pattern classifier for identifying the type of clutter statistical distribution and (III) A CFAR processor. This scheme enables an airborne millimeter wave radar to process more information during every scan while maintaining a constant false alarm rate by fixing a threshold adaptive to the type of clutter that is encountered.