An Improved Multi-Frame Coherent Integration Algorithm for Heterogeneous Radar

Abstract

This paper proposes an improved multi-frame coherent integration algorithm to improve the detection performance of weak targets in heterogeneous radar. In the detection of weak targets, integration within a single frame may fail to provide sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain. In this case, multi-frame coherent integration is an effective solution. However, radar parameters may be different across frames (i.e., heterogeneous radar) in some practical situations, leading to a mismatch of Doppler frequencies and the fixed phases, which poses difficulties to multi-frame coherent integration. To calibrate the ranges and Doppler frequencies of heterogenous multi-frame echoes, this paper firstly employs an improved Keystone Transform (KT). Compared to conventional KT, the improved KT aligns inter-frame carrier frequencies by applying varying degrees of slow-time rescaling based on the carrier frequencies of each frame, and aligns inter-frame Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF) through a unified global slow-time resampling. Secondly, this paper derives the explicit expressions of the fixed-phase terms and adopts a method based on fractional range bins, thus achieving explicit compensation for mismatched phases. Finally, heterogenous multi-frame coherent integration is achieved through slow-time fast Fourier transform. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is validated by simulation analyses. Compared to existing entropy-based methods, the proposed algorithm demonstrates higher robustness and lower computational complexity, making it more effective in detecting weak targets under low SNR conditions.