SIDELOBE REDUCTION AND CLUTTER SUPPRESSION FOR A DISTRIBUTED SPARSE ARRAY (DSA) RADAR SYSTEM

THE FULL PERFORMANCE CAPABILITY OF A SPACE BASED DISTRIBUTED SPARSE ARRAY (DSA) CAN BE ACHIEVED ONLY IF TECHNIQUES ARE DEVELOPED THAT SUPPRESS CLUTTER RETURNS AND THE EFFECT OF JAMMING IN THE DSA SIDELOBES. THE PROPOSED PROGRAM PRESENTS FOUR TECHNIQUES FOR SUPPRESSING THE DSA SIDELOBE CLUTTER WHILE AT THE SAME TIME MAINTAINING DSA AREA COVERAGE RATE, MINIMIZING THE NUMBER OF INDIVIDUAL MINIRADARS IN A DSA CONSTELLATION, AND MAINTAINING THE HIGH RESOLUTION AND SURVIVABILITY OF THE DSA. COMPLEMENTARY TECHNIQUES FOR SUPPRESSING JAMMING IN THE INDIVIDUAL RADAR WIDE MAINBEAM FOOTPRINT AND THE OVERALL DSA RESULTING SIDELOBE PATTERN ARE PRESENTED. A PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF A GROUND BASED EXPERIMENT IN PHASE II HAS BEEN DEVELOPED.