Range filtering combined with suppression filtering for full-polarization characterization retention

1 . An apparatus for detecting targets with radar signals, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a radar signal on orthogonally-polarized channels and generate a receiver return vector from the received radar signal;

a range filter configured to filter reflections in the receiver return vector at a selected range bin; and

a polarization filter configured to filter an identified interference signal from a return of the range filter.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a controller configured to:

repeat the filtering by the range filter and the polarization filter on a plurality of looks of the radar signals; and

average returns of the polarization filter from the plurality of looks.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the filtering by the range filter comprises:

constructing a convolution matrix of a continuous wave transmission of the radar;

modeling a reflection of the continuous wave transmission off of reflectors organized in range with a multiplication of the convolution matrix with a first vector; and

generate the range filter return by adding random complex quantities for noise to the model.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the convolution matrix is constructed based on complex baseband samples of the continuous wave transmission.

5 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first vector is environmental reflection coefficients by sample delay.

6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the filtering by the polarization filter comprises:

estimating a polarization vector of the identified interference signal;

calculating a projection coefficient from the polarization vector at a sample of the range filter return; and

generating an output of the polarization filter for the sample by taking an inner product of the interference vector normalized by the projection coefficient from the range filter return.

7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a first matched filter configured to process the receiver return vector to select a range profile with initial target and/or clutter detections and determine the selected range bin.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising a second matched filter configured to filter a result of the range filter to expose noise artifacts at ranges suppressed by the range filter.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the polarization filter is configured to filter range bins adjacent to the selected range bin.

10 . A system for detecting targets with radar signals, the system comprising:

a transmitter configured to transmit orthogonally-polarized incident radar signals;

a receiver configured to receive a radar signal on orthogonally-polarized channels and generate a receiver return vector having four elements representing four channels of a full-polarimetric radar reading;

a range filter configured to filter reflections in the receiver return vector at a selected range bin; and

a polarization filter configured to filter an identified interference signal from a return of the range filter.

11 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising:

repeating the filtering by the range filter and the polarization filter on a plurality of looks of the radar signals; and

averaging returns of the polarization filter from the plurality of looks.

12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the filtering by the range filter comprises:

constructing a convolution matrix of a continuous wave transmission of the radar;

modeling a reflection of the continuous wave transmission off of reflectors organized in range with a multiplication of the convolution matrix with a vector representing environmental reflection coefficients by sample delay; and

generate the range filter return by adding random complex quantities for noise to the model.

13 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the filtering by the polarization filter comprises:

estimating a polarization vector of the identified interference signal;

calculating a projection coefficient from the polarization vector at a sample of the range filter return; and

generating an output of the polarization filter for the sample by taking an inner product of the interference vector normalized by the projection coefficient from the range filter return.

14 . A method for detecting targets with radar signals, the method comprising:

receiving a radar signal on orthogonally-polarized channels by a receiver to generate a receiver return vector;

filtering reflections in the receiver return vector at a selected range bin by a range filter; and

filtering an identified interference signal from a return of the range filter by a polarization filter.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

repeating the filtering by the range filter and the polarization filter on a plurality of looks of the radar signals; and

averaging returns of the polarization filter from the plurality of looks.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the filtering by the range filter comprises:

constructing a convolution matrix of a continuous wave transmission of the radar;

modeling a reflection of the continuous wave transmission off of reflectors organized in range with a multiplication of the convolution matrix with a vector representing environmental reflection coefficients by sample delay; and

generate the range filter return by adding random complex quantities for noise to the model.

17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the filtering by the polarization filter comprises:

estimating a polarization vector of the identified interference signal;

calculating a projection coefficient from the polarization vector at a sample of the range filter return; and

generating an output of the polarization filter for the sample by taking an inner product of the interference vector normalized by the projection coefficient from the range filter return.

18 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising a first matched filter configured to process the receiver return vector to select a range profile with initial target and/or clutter detections and determine the selected range bin.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising a second matched filter configured to filter a result of the range filter to expose noise artifacts at ranges suppressed by the range filter.

20 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the polarization filter is configured to filter range bins adjacent to the selected range bin.