An Anti-FOD Method Based on CA-CM-CFAR for MMW Radar in Complex Clutter Background

Area of Science:

• Radar Systems Engineering
• Signal Processing
• Aerospace Safety

Background:

• Traditional constant false alarm rate (CFAR) methods are used for foreign object debris (FOD) indication.
• Performance of existing CFAR methods degrades in complex airport clutter backgrounds.
• Millimeter-wave (MMW) radar systems are crucial for airport surveillance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a threshold-improved cell-averaging clutter-map (CA-CM) CFAR approach for MMW radar systems.
• To enhance FOD detection performance in challenging airport environments.
• To address the performance decrease of CFAR methods caused by extended clutter edges.

Main Methods:

• Clutter classification using variability indexes (VIs).
• Threshold calculation using a student-t-distributed test statistic for homogeneous backgrounds.
• Adaptive threshold modification based on VI for discontinuous clutter conditions.

Main Results:

• The proposed t-distributed threshold effectively indicates targets in homogeneous backgrounds.
• Obscured targets are detected effectively under discontinuous clutter conditions.
• Significant detectability improvement is achieved at extended clutter edges.

Conclusions:

• The enhanced CA-CM-CFAR approach improves FOD detection accuracy in complex airport clutter.
• Adaptive thresholding based on clutter variability is key to robust radar performance.
• This method offers enhanced safety for airport operations through improved debris detection.