Investigating jammer suppression with a 3-D staring array

A 3-D staring radar operates by using a wide beam transmitter to illuminate the entire surveillance region and generates multiple receive beams using a 2-D static array that can be digitised at element level. The sensor achieves permanent search in all directions and harnesses the spatial, temporal and spectral domains to improve detection and discrimination of low observable, highly manoeuvrable targets in congested air space against strong non-stationary clutter. While the susceptibility of traditional scanning radars to jammers has been well researched, very little work has been carried out to assess the performance of 3-D staring radars in the presence of an interference source. In this paper, the response of a staring array radar to a jammer is modelled. Results are presented showing that by exploiting the persistent dwell time of the staring array, it is possible to achieve effective jammer suppression using null steering or similar techniques.