Experimental HF radar trial of real-time STAP

An alternative multi-static HF radar architecture, known as the Forward-Based Receiver Augmentation (FBRA) system, has been developed and tested by the Defence Science and Technology Organization [1]. The experimental system has performed beyond expectations in a number of trials involving targets of interest. This is not only due to the impressive hardware capabilities, but also the advanced signal processing for clutter and interference mitigation, particularly STAP which was shown to be indispensable for the successful operation of the system. This paper describes the real-time STAP algorithm in the FBRA system, and demonstrates its experimental detection performance on a cooperative aircraft target with flight path "ground truth" data available from on-board GPS logging equipment.