Tutorial 1.2
Monday, 24 April 2006

Space-Time Adaptive Processing for AMTI and GMTI Radar
Instructors: James Ward, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Stephen Kogon, MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Synopsis: Space-Time-Adaptive Processing (STAP) is becoming an integral part of modern airborne and space-based radars for performing Airborne Moving Target Indicator (AMTI) and Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) functions. STAP is an application of optimum and adaptive array processing algorithms to the radar problem of target detection in ground clutter and interference with pulse-Doppler waveforms and multi-channel antennas and receivers. Coupled space-time processing is required to optimally mitigate the Doppler spreading of ground clutter induced by radar platform motion. This tutorial will begin with the fundamentals of adaptive beamforming and radar pulse-Doppler processing, move through principles and application of STAP, and conclude with a brief overview of some advanced current research topics. Optimum STAP and a taxonomy of practical STAP architectures and algorithms will be described in depth. Key aspects of a practical STAP algorithm include the methods for estimating the background interference, proper subspace selection, and the technique for computing STAP filter weights. Algorithms for providing rapid convergence, robustness to clutter inhomogeneities, robustness to steering vector calibration errors, and reduced computational complexity will be described. Displaced Phase Center Antenna (DPCA) processing will be presented as a nonadaptive space-time processor that gives insight into STAP performance. The effect of STAP on subsequent CFAR detection and target parameter estimation algorithms will be discussed briefly. Simulation and experimental data will be used to illustrate STAP concepts and algorithmic issues.

Dr. James Ward is Leader of the Advanced Sensor Techniques Group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory, where he has worked since 1990. His areas of technical expertise include signal processing for radar, sonar, and communications systems, adaptive array and space-time adaptive processing, detection and estimation theory, and systems analysis. Dr. Ward has given tutorials on space-time adaptive processing and radar adaptive array processing at several IEEE international radar and phased array conferences. He has been an organizer and lecturer at several Lincoln Laboratory short courses on radar systems. He received the Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, in 1985 and the MSEE and Ph.D. degrees from the Ohio State University in 1987 and 1990, respectively. In 2001 he was the recipient of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Technical Excellence Award, and in 2003 received the IEEE AESS Fred Nathanson Young Radar Engineer Award for contributions to adaptive radar and sonar signal processing. Dr. Ward is a Fellow of the IEEE.

Dr. Stephen Kogon is a member of the technical staff at MIT Lincoln Laboratory in the Advanced Sensor Techniques group where he has been since 1997. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1996. His primary research interest is in adaptive signal processing for advanced airborne and space-based radar and passive sonar systems, specifically in the area of array processing algorithm development for these applications. Dr. Kogon has published several technical articles in these areas as well as written two book chapters on space-time adaptive processing (STAP) in a soon to be published book Applications of Space-Time Adaptive Processing (Richard Klemm, editor). He is also a co-author (with Manolakis and Ingle) of the textbook Statistical and Adaptive Signal Processing published by McGraw-Hill in 2000.