Target location with signal fitting and sub-aperture tracking for airborne multi-channel radar

The location of a moving target based on signal fitting and sub-aperture tracking from an airborne multi-channel radar is dealt with. The proposed approach is applied in two steps: first, the ambiguous slant-range velocity is derived with a modified single-snapshot multiple direction of arrival estimation method, and second, the unambiguous slant-range velocity is found using a track-based criterion. The prominent advantage of the proposed approach is that the unambiguous slant-range velocity can be very large. Besides, the first stage is carried out at the determinate range-Doppler test cell by azimuth searching for fitting best to the moving target signal, therefore, the location performance would not be sacrificed in order to suppress clutter and/or interference. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method are validated with a set of airborne experimental data.