Adaptive sidelobe control for clutter rejection of atmospheric radars

Abstract. Clutter rejection is among the most important issues in radar signal processing, for which the adaptive antenna technique can be a powerful means. Compared to other applications of the adaptive antenna, however, atmospheric radars require strict conditions, which have prevented application of this technique; the main antenna beam pattern should not be altered since the target region is defined by its shape. In particular, the loss of the antenna gain should be kept to no more than about 0.5dB, in order to maintain the high sensitivity of the system. Also, clutter from surrounding mountains is often stronger than the desired weak scattering from atmospheric turbulence. We introduce a new algorithm which satisfies the above conditions, and confirms its capability by applying it to actual data taken by the MU radar. This paper presents the first report that demonstrates the effectiveness of the adaptive antenna technique in atmospheric radar applications. Despite the fact that no information is given on the spectral features of the desired and undesired signals, only the clutter echoes from surrounding mountains were effectively cancelled without affecting the desired echoes from atmospheric turbulence.