First-Order Peaks Determination for Direction-Finding High-Frequency Radar

Abstract

Direction-finding (DF) high-frequency radar (HFR) is preferred among the HFR family and is widely used around the world due to its compact structure. The correct determination of first-order peaks (FOPs) from Doppler spectra recorded by radar is a critical step toward attaining accurate mappings of surface currents. The commonly used FOPs determination method is generally sufficient for most situations. However, it needs six user-defined input parameters. These parameters result in complex procedures of optimizing the values of these six user-defined parameters. To simplify the FOPs determination for DF HFR, we propose an alternative method which only needs one user-defined parameter. To validate the reliability of the proposed method, we compare the FOPs determination results derived from the proposed method with those from the commonly used method on a data set covering a period of 256 days. The results indicate that the proposed method yields a similar FOPs determination result to the commonly used method. This proposed input-parameter-reduced method can greatly simplify the use of the HFR for users who are unprofessional in the HFR and promote the popularization and application of HFR.