Adaptivity in Over-the-Horizon and High-Frequency Surface Wave Radar

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An issue of growing strategic importance to Canada is effective surveillance over its vast airspace and thecoastline up to and beyond the Exclusive Economic Zone. Currently, only a fraction of Canadian airspace andcoastline is covered by primary radar. Over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) has been shown to be a cost-effectiveand the most environmentally-friendly solution for surveillance of the Canadian airspace. High-frequencysurface-wave radar (HFSWR) is well suited for coastal surveillance. The current capabilities of these systems islimited by interference - due to auroral clutter in the case of OTHR when used in Canada; in HFSWR seaclutter dominates the near ranges and ionospheric clutter in the far ranges. In the higher sea-states, currently,sea-clutter makes target detection impossible. These interference sources are well known to be spatially- andtime-varying and spatially non-homogeneous. Looking forward, the key to effective surveillance is to be able tosuppress this interference in real-time using all available degrees of freedom - better adaptive signal processingat the receiver(s), coupled with adaptivity on transmit, the design of optimal and practical, but close-to-optimalwaveforms, better antennas. The long-term goal of this project is to detect targets such as commercial airplanesusing OTHR and small, slow-moving, fishing vessels in various sea-states using HFSWR.This project builds on previous collaborations with both partners, Defense Research and Development Canadaand Raytheon Canada We propose developing a comprehensive understanding of target detection in OTHR andHFSWR. We propose a mix of algorithm development for weak-target detection based on space-time adaptiveprocessing, the development multiple-input multiple-output techniques for radar, especially waveform designand antenna configuration, the use of real-time training to compensate for propagation through a disturbedionosphere and theoretical developments in distributed detection. A key driver is the availability of measureddata for both forms of radar from our research partners.