Adaptive subspace detection of range-distributed target in compound-Gaussian clutter

This paper deals with high-resolution radar (HRR) adaptive detection of range-distributed target embedded in compound-Gaussian clutter which is modeled as a spherically invariant random process (SIRP). Using multiple dominant scattering (MDS) model of range-distributed target, we justify that range-distributed target can be modeled as a subspace random signal. The unknown deterministic parameters are replaced by their ML estimates and then the nonadaptive detector is proposed. A closed-form expression for the probability of false alarm of the nonadaptive detector is derived and it ensures CFAR property with respect to the unknown statistics of the clutter texture component. Moreover, an adaptive detector is obtained relying on a two-step GLRT-based design procedure. Performances of these proposed detectors are assessed through Monte Carlo simulations and are shown to have better detection performance compared with existing similar detector.