Detection and Tracking of Moving Vehicles and Dismounts Across the LandSea Boundary

Ground moving target indication (GMTI) and surface moving target indication (SMTI) radar are extensively used for the purpose of detecting and tracking dismounts and moving vehicles over land and water. SMTI radar offers the potential for all-weather day-night persistent detection of surface targets over the entire earth. For SMTI radar to achieve its true potential, however, advances in radar signal processing will be required that address various issues associated with operating over a wide range of clutter environments including land, littoral, and open ocean. When dismounts and moving vehicles are present near a coastline, radar performance suffers due to heterogeneous clutter conditions caused by the changing terrain and the general differences in land-based and sea-based clutter. An algorithm that successfully detects moving vehicles and dismounts while minimizing false alarms in littoral clutter regions improves the capabilities of radar systems that can operate in littoral environments.