Small Target Detection and Noise Reduction in Marine Radar Systems

The most fundamental problem in radar signal is detection of an object or physical phenomenon. This problem became more challenging to the signal processing and radar communities to detect small targets (like small icebergs) in an oceanic environment. These small targets are difficult to detect for a marine radar system since they protrude only about a meter or so above the sea surface level. Unfortunately these small targets can cause severe damage to ships traveling in ice-ridden waters. In this paper, we make detection decision for small targets such as small fragments of icebergs using cross- correlation instead of statistical decision theory. Then we recover a transmitted signal using matched filter. Our simulation results give the exact result even when the received signal is attenuated more than 90%.