An efficient adaptive polarimetric processor with an embedded CFAR

To improve the detection performance of surveillance radars with polarization diversity, we developed an adaptive polarimetric processor and compared it with other polarimetric processors. We derived our adaptive polarimetric processor, called the polarization discontinuity detector (PDD), from the generalized likelihood ratio (GLR) test principle for the unspecified target component. We derived closed-form expressions of its probabilities of detection and false alarm, and compared its performance to that of the adaptive polarization canceller (APC) and Kelly's GLR processor. The PDD had a performance similar to Kelly's GLR in Gaussian clutter, and both the PDD and Kelly's GLR, which have embedded constant false alarm rates (CFARs), outperformed the APC, especially when the target polarization state was close to the clutter's polarization state. The important difference is that the PDD is much simpler than Kelly's GLR for hardware/software implementation, because the PDD does not require a costly two-parameter filter bank to cover the unknown target polarization state as Kelly's GLR does.