A radar extended target angle estimation method based on effective phase clustering

For high‐resolution radar, traditional direction of arrival (DOA) angle measuring algorithms for point‐like targets cannot be directly applied to extended targets. Instead, pixel‐based detection and clustering must be performed first, followed by angle estimation. However, the presence of factors such as clutter and system noise makes it impossible to guarantee a one‐to‐one correspondence between the multiple scattering points of an extended target and the real target, which may result in significant discrepancies between the angle estimation and localization results and the real target. To address this issue, this paper proposes and discusses a radar extended target arrival angle estimation method based on effective phase clustering. The proposed method selects effective target scatterers through the interferometric phase information between channels, clusters these points, and then estimates the DOA angle of the extended target, effectively reducing the impact of interference scatterers on DOA angle estimation and improving the angular measurement accuracy. The effectiveness of the proposed method was validated by the measured data obtained from an airborne digital beamforming radar system.