Urban Clutter Analysis for Drone Detection using L-band Staring Radar

Stationary ground clutter can present a significant challenge for radar detection of moving targets particularly for low altitude slow moving small targets such as drones. In urban environments, clutter returns from collections of man-made structures can cause obscuration and introduce multipath that can interfere with the echoes of the targets of interest. Furthermore, phase noise in the presence of strong stationary clutter can lead to masking weaker signals from slow moving objects such as small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS). This work focused on the analysis of urban clutter in the Birmingham area using two L-band staring radars to provide detailed characterization of clutter of a dense urban environment. Clutter maps are generated at various Doppler frequencies to understand the impact on target signal-to-noise ratio as a result of strong ground clutter. This work will provide a basis for establishing radar sensitivity against low observable targets in built up areas.