I. Adaptive CFAR Processor For Nonhomogeneous Environments MOHAMMAD ALI KHALIGHI MOHAMMAD HASAN BASTANI Sharif University of Technology A new constant false alarm rate (CFAR) processor is presented, that exhibits a noticeable detection performance in the presence of interfering targets, as well as an excellent false alarm rate (FAR) regulation at the clutter power transition regions. The presented CFAR processor, which is designed to work on the logarithmic amplified video signals, can also easily adapt itself to new environmental conditions. Furthermore, in the steady state, its performance does not depend on the background noise power. Simulation results show the obvious preference of the presented processor to the conventional GOCA-LOGICFAR, regarding FAR regulation at the clutter power transition regions. Noncoherent integration of radar pulses is considered in the analyses. Manuscript received November 21, 1998; revised September 2, 1999; released for publication February 23, 2000. IEEE Log NO. T-AES136I3l01801. Refereeing of this contribution was handled by W. D. Blair. Authors’ current addresses: M. A. Khalighi, Laboratoire des Images et des Signaux (LIS), ENSIEG, Domaine Universitaire, BP-46, 38402, Saint-Martin-d’Hbres Cedex, France, E-mail: (Ali.Khalighi@inpg.fr); M. H. Bastani, Dept. of Electrical, Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, P.O.Box 11365-9363, Tehran, Iran, E-mail: (Bastani@sina.sharif.ac.ir). 0018-9251/00/$10.00 @ 2000 IEEE INTRODUCTION Use of a fixed threshold for the detection of radar signals results either in a degradation in the detection performance or an excessive increase in the FAR (false alarm rate), as a consequence of the variation in the background noise power. Therefore, using an adaptive threshold with the CFAR (constant FAR) property is unavoidable in most radar and automatic detection systems. Up to now, numerous CFAR processors are presented in the literature, each one designed to work in some particular environmental conditions. The most primitive CFAR processor is CA (cell averaging) or MLD (mean level detector). This processor has a poor performance in nonhomogeneous environments, i.e., in the presence of interfering targets or clutter power transition regions. Various modifications have been applied to CA processor to improve its detection performance in the presence of interferers. Some examples are the censoring technique as in CCA (censored CA) or CMLD (censored MLD) [l], and the excising technique as in Ex (excision) detector [2, 31. The OS (ordered statistics) CFAR detectors [4-61 also exhibit a good performance in such conditions. On the other hand, in order to preserve the CFAR property at the clutter power transition regions, the GOCA (greater-of CA) is proposed [5, 71. In GOCA, the greater average of the leading and lagging subwindows’ samples is used instead of the ensemble average as in CA. This processor can regulate, to some extent, the FAR at the clutter power transition regions, while suffering a little more CFAR loss, compared with CA [8]. The greater-of selection may be combined with other techniques to provide a good performance in the presence of both interferers and clutter regions. Furthermore, many other CFAR processors have been designed to work in some special environmental conditions; most of them use combinations of the already mentioned techniques. Considerable particular conditions in our work are the probable presence of interferers and clutter regions. To work under such circumstances, some CFAR processors such as CGO (censored greater-of) [9, lo], ACMLD (automatic censored MLD) [ l l ] , OSGO (ordered statistics greater-of) [12, 131, and ExGO (excision greater-of) [ 141 have already been presented. However, each one has some disadvantages. Performances of CGO, ACMLD, and ExGO detectors at the clutter power transition regions are almost similar to the performance of GOCA. However, for CGO, if the number of interferers exceeds the preassumed limit, its detection performance degrades severely. Also, use of ACMLD would necessitate much computation time, because of its relatively, complex algorithm. Although ExGO processor IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS VOL. 36, NO. 3 JULY 2000 889 Target Logrrithmic Amplifiw Present Processor Fig. 1. Block diagram of receiver. is very suitable from this point of view, it cannot appropriately confront interfering targets and clutter regions at the same time (as to be explained relatively in Section IV). The OSGO processor requires much computation time to extract the ranks of the two reference subwindows. Furthermore, it suffers from more CFAR loss, compared with the other processors stated before. In this work, we present a new CFAR processor that exhibits an excellent FAR regulation at the clutter edges, while possessing a good robustness against interfering signals. Noncoherent integration of radar pulses is considered. Moreover, it is assumed that a logarithmic video amplifier is used to increase the input dynamic range of the receiver. Note that most of the CFAR algorithms proposed for the linear detection case are also applicable for the logarithmic detection case, with a little modification. For example, for the OS processor, it is not important to work on linear or logarithmic amplified samples. For the CA family CFAR processors, logarithmic amplified samples can be processed in a similar way. For these processors, use of logarithmic data results in an increased robustness against interferers [ 15, 161. Nevertheless, the logarithmic processing leads to some additional CFAR loss [15, 171. Moreover, the performance of the processor in regulating the FAR at the clutter power transition regions would be degraded. This concept is investigated in [16], where a comparison is made between the performances of GOCA and GOCA-LOG CFAR processors. Use of logarithmic amplification also causes an integration loss, compared with the linear case [18]. The processor which we present here is based on the excision technique [2, 31, and uses the idea of AMEx (adaptive modified Ex) and AMEx-LOG processors [ 19-21], which have been designed for ESM (electronic support measures) systems. In this design, a primary threshold adapted to the background noiseklutter power, is used to remove the probable interfering samples from the reference cells. Next, the, remaining samples of each reference subwindow are averaged. Greater-of selection is used to enable the processor to prevent from the excessive FAR increase in the clutter power transition regions. Due to the feedback loop used in the processor structure, it can adapt itself quickly to the new background conditions, e.g. when the reference window is moved from a clear to a clutter region. Organization is as follows. The assumptions on the statistical models are given in Section 11. In Section 890 111, Ex-LOGKFAR processor is introduced and its performance is discussed briefly. Next, ExGO-LOG processor is considered in Section IV and its disadvantages to work in clutter regions is described. The modification of ExGO-LOG to AExGO-LOG (adaptive ExGO-LOG) processor to work under the desired environmental conditions is discussed in Section V. The method of determination of the proposed processor's design parameters is considered in Section VI. In Section VII, simulation results concerning the performance of the proposed CFAR processor are given. At last, a general conclusion of the obtained results is presented in Section VIII. II. ASSUMPTIONS AND STATISTICAL MODELS It is assumed that a square law envelope detector is used in the receiver, followed by a logarithmic video amplifier. Fig. 1 shows the block diagram of the receiver. A narrowband matched filter is used at the IF section. Therefore, the Gaussian distribution can be considered for the noise samples in its output. With the assumption of IID (independent identically distributed) samples in the detector input, the pdf (probability distribution function) of noise samples at the detector output is x>o where u2 is the variance of noise samples. Similarly, assuming a Gaussian distribution for the background clutter, the pdf of the clutter return samples at the detector output is [5] 1 + fex(x) = G2(1 CNR) exp (- X W(1 + CNR) x20. (2) Here, CNR (clutter-to-noise ratio) denotes the relative power of the clutter. The video logarithmic amplifier characteristic equation is considered as in (3) where x and z are the input and output signals of the amplifier, respectively. The analyses performed in this paper assume a Z 0.8 and b Z 3.5 z = aloglox+ b. (3) The pdf of the samples at the output of the logarithmic am,plifier can be obtained using the following equation In 10 &(z) = -f a (lO'z-b'/"). x (4) IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS VOL. 36, NO. 3 JULY 2000 Video Amp. In other words, BE can be calculated using the following equation Sampler BE = ul0g,o(2a2) + b - 0 . 2 5 0 7 ~+ a. (9) The performance of Ex-LOG processor is similar to Ex-CFAR which is discussed extensively in [2, 31, except that it suffers from more CFAR loss due to t the use of logarithmic amplification [20, 211. In the presence of interfering targets, assuming constant y,, Fig. 2. Block diagram of Ex-LOG/CFAR processor. any increase in the number of interferers results in an increase in p f , (false alarm probability). However, assuming constant F& (correcting -yD with respect to In this paper we consider the non-fluctuating model the number of interferers), any increase in the number (Swerling case 5) for targets. Therefore, for a of interferers results in a decrease in Pd (detection received pulse with the amplitude A, the pdf of probability), due to the increased CFAR loss. signal-plus-noise samples at the detector output will Regarding the probable environmental conditions, be [22] specially the maximum probable number of interfering samples, the width of the reference window can be 1 x+A2 AJ determined appropriately, so that the least possible f,(x) = -exp -2a2 202 )IO(*)’ degradation occurs in the presence of interferers. BE (or equivalently a ) is an important design x10 (5) parameter of the processor. If BE is chosen too low, where Zo(.) is the modified Bessel function of the most of the noise samples will be excised. Thus, a first kind and zero order. The pdf of signal-plus-noise great CFAR loss will result. On the other hand, if BE samples at the output of logarithmic amplifier can be is chosen too high, the excisor will fail in removing obtained using (4) and (5). the probable interference samples, resulting in the The number of cells of each reference subwindow degradation of the detection performance. In other and the number of integrated radar pulses are words, a wide IZ (ineffectiveness zone [2]) results. indicated as K and M ,respectively. Excisur ( IV. Ill. Ex-LOC/CFAR PROCESSOR The block diagram of the Ex-LOGKFAR processor is shown in Fig. 2 [20, 211. This processor is the modified version of Ex-CFAR for the case of logarithmic amplification. As can be seen, at first a primary threshold, called B E , is used to excise the probable interferer samples. Next, the remained samples are averaged, and after the summation of the average with a threshold parameter y, (as in CA-LOG processor), the final threshold B, is obtained. Obviously, when BE -+CO, the processor reduces to CA-LOG. The important feature of this processor is its simple structure and the required low computation time for calculating the detection threshold. Similar to the case of Ex-CFAR, an important parameter, called excisor coefficient, is defined for the processor as a = BE - E { Z } As stated previously, the greater-of technique is usually used in order to avoid excessive FAR increase at the clutter power transition regions. Application of this technique in the Ex-CFAR structure has been already considered in [ 141. The resulting performance, apart from the interferers problem, is similar to that of GOCA processor. However, this design (or equivalently ExGO-LOG), has an obvious drawback that is not considered in the paper. Taking a wide range of variations for the variance of background samples (noise or clutter), necessitates the choice of a relatively high B E . Therefore, in,the noise-only regions, the processor exhibits a very wide IZ and the excisor would fail in excising the interference samples. In this case, for high values of samples variance (i.e., in clutter regions), the FAR regulation and the IZ characteristics may be suitable. (6) where V. E { Z } = uloglo(2a2)+ b - aylogloe (7) with y as the Euler constant defined as y = -Lme-~1nxdx~0.57721. ExCO-LOCKFAR PROCESSOR (8) MODIFYING THE EXGO-LOGPROCESSOR’S ST RUCT URE In the previous section it was explained that applying both excision and greater-of techniques does not result in a good performance, from the points of view of FAR regulation at the clutter power transition KHALIGHI & BASTANI: ADAPTIVE CFAR PROCESSOR FOR NONHOMOGENEOUS ENVIRONMENTS 89 1 Druiaiuo YU (0 Fig. 3. Block diagram of AExGO-L0GKFA.R processor. regions and the suppression of the effect of interferers on the detection performance. In fact, if the processor has the property that it can adapt itself to the new background conditions, its performance (in the steady state) would be independent of the background noise power. So, its parameters could be determined without any anxiety about the noise power variation limits. In other words, in the steady state, the IZ characteristics will be insensitive to the noise power. The idea of adaptation is deduced from the fact that for the Ex-LOG processor, it can be shown that [20, 211 E { V } = BE + Const. (10) So, if the variance of V can be somehow neglected, BE can be obtained via the addition of V with a constant parameter. The same idea is used in the design of AMEx-LOGKFAR processor [20, 211. The more the number of reference cells, the more reasonable the assumption will be. The resulted structure is named AEx-LOGKFAR. However, in our application the greater-of selection is used at the same time, and hence, the feedback should be taken from the greater average (called %): BE=V,+CO where CO serves as a feedback coefficient. Regarding noise-only conditions, the reasonability of the design is the same as AEx-LOG. The block diagram of the resulted processor, named AExGO-LOG/CFAR, is shown in Fig. 3. As in the case of AMEx-LOG processor, the performance of the introduced algorithm is independent of the variance of background noise, and this is a very 892 (1 1) important characteristic of the processor. Therefore, in the clutter regions, the same IZ characteristics of noise-only regions results. A small modification is made to the CFAR algorithm in the case of removal of all samples of a subwindow 'by the excisor. In this case, the ordinary procedure of the algorithm is abandoned, such that the previous computed threshold (last B,) is used, and in the next cycle, the excisor is made ineffective. Thereafter, the normal CFAR algorithm is used again. This concept is explained in more detail in Section VII. It is seen that the processor exhibits an excellent FAR regulation, confronting the clutter power transii.ion regions. Considering the feedback loop (from to BE), it should be noticed that the determination of CO is independent of the value of 7, (it was not the case for AMEx-LOG [20, 211). Due to the complexity of the structure of the processor, its analysis is very difficult and so, in most cases the simulation results are used to study its performance. Apart from the problem of clutter, the processor follows a transient behavior as a result of variations in the background noise power. The extreme case happens when noise jammers are present in the combat envirfonment.Note that the additive broadband noise jamming can be modeled as Gaussian noise [2]. The transient behavior is due to the feedback loop in the structure of the processor. The results presented in the following sections are obtained in the steady state of the algorithm. The transient behavior of the algorithm resulted from the variations in the noise power is similar to the case of AMEx and AMEx-LOG processors. This is extensively investigated in [ 19-21 J and is not discussed here. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS VOL. 36, NO. 3 JULY 2000 4.8 loJ .............. 4.6 10'' 4.4 IOS 4.2 4 YD 3.8 3.6 3 In" .................... :.............. :.............. ................ 3.4 3.2 - ............................. i ~ -............................... -............................ 1 ~ .................... 10-3 j 10' . ......................................................... 2.8 Fig. 4. VI. DETERMINATION OF AExGO-LOG DESIGN PARAMETERS Three important parameters of the processor are K (the width of each reference subwindow), 7, (the threshold parameter), and CO (the feedback coefficient). A. Determination of Width of Reference Subwindows The determination of K should be performed considering the endured CFAR loss, the homogeneity of the reference window, and the maximum probable number of interferers. In our application, since we profit the integration of radar pulses, the effective number of reference samples is 2 K M , where M is the number of integrated radar pulses. This value can be large enough and hence, the problem of CFAR loss does not impose a serious limitation. Therefore, in order to reduce the required threshold computation time, K can be chosen small. In this way, the condition of the homogeneity of the reference window will be well satisfied too. However, K should be taken large enough, so that in the worst case conditions, the appearance of the interferer samples in the reference window does not result in the excision of the majority of samples in a subwindow. As a special case to be considered, assuming M = 8 and the possibility of the presence of at most one interferer sample in each subwindow, K = 4 is chosen. So, the minimum effective number of reference noise samples in each subwindow (under the conditions of maximum possible interference), will be 24, which is a suitable value. B. Determination of Threshold Parameter 7, is determined considering the values of K , CO, and the design false alarm probability (Pfa-d). For instance, the simulation results in Fig. 4 show the .IL 10.~I 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 CO Fig. 5. AExGO-LOG processor, probability of excising three noise samples, M = 8. curves of 7, versus CO for three different values of for the case of K = 4 and M = 8. C. Determination of the Feedback Coefficient CO is an important design parameter of the processor which in fact determines B E . Excessive increase in CO results in the failure of the excisor in removing probable interferer samples. On the other hand, an excessive decrease in CO leads to the increase in CFAR loss or even to probable divergence of the algorithm. This happens because of successive decrease in the values of BE and B, (and as a result, BE -+ 0). Considering the case of K = 4 and M = 8, the method of determination of CO is as follows. 1) The first criterion to be considered, is that the excision of all samples of a subwindow should occur with a very low probability. According to the previous assumptions that the presence of at most one interferer sample in each subwindow is probable, the probability of removing 3 ( K - 1) noise samples by the excisor is our criterion. This probability which is defined as is the probability of equals &, where excising one sample (IID samples have already been versus considered). Fig. 5 depicts the curve of CO. The interval of CO > 2.00 which is equivalent to < 3 x lop5 seems to be suitable. Note that for this case, the values of CO < 0.8 lead to the divergence of the algorithm. Furthermore, values of 0.8 < CO < 1.5 leading to too much excision of noise samples is not shown in the figure. 2) The next criterion is the detection performance, from the points of view of CFAR loss and the suppression of the effect of interfering signals. Simulation results show that the endured CFAR loss has a very poor sensitivity to CO for 1.5 < CO < 2.00, and is nearly insensitive to CO for larger values. Thus, almost no restrictions arise from this point of view. On the other hand, Fig. 6 shows the curves of Pd versus CO, while the presence of one KHALIGHI & BASTANI: ADAPTIVE CFAR PROCESSOR FOR NONHOMOGENEOUS ENVIRONMENTS 893 1 1 0.8 0.8 0.6 0.6 5 dB Pd p, 0.4 04 0.2 0.2 0 1.5 2 2.5 3 4 35 4.5 5 5.5 6 0 LO4 CO Fig. 6. AExGO-LOG processor, effect of interfering signals (INR = 2 dB, completely integrated) on detection performance of main signals; K = 4, M = 8, one interferer sample in each subwindow. , Pfzl Fig. 7. AExGO-LOG processor, ROC characteristic curves for case of K = 4 and M = 8. interferer sample with the relative power of INR (interference-to-noise ratio) is considered in each subwindow. Each interferer sample is obtained from the noncoherent integration of M returns of an interfering target with the relative power of INR (it is denoted as completely integrated interferer). The effect of interference on pd (resulting from unsuccessful action of the excisor) is evident for large values of CO. Note that all values of SNR and INR indicated in this paper, refer to the values before the integration of radar-pulses. According to Fig. 6, the values of CO < 2.4 seem to be suitable. 3) The last criterion in the determination of CO is the transient response of the processor confronting clutter power transition regions. Simulation results confirm that for values of CO > 2.00, the transient speed of the algorithm is almost independent of CO. In summary, we chose CO = 2.25 for the special case of K = 4 and M = 8. Consider another special case of K = 10 and M = 16. In this case, the presence of at most 7 interferer samples in each subwindow is assumed to be probable. Taking into account the above mentioned criteria, CO = 3.00 is chosen. For this value, F& = 2x Obviously, does not depend on K ,but it is sensitive to the value of M . For larger values of M , the variance of the integrated samples will be larger, and hence, the probability of excising for a distinct CO will increase. ex VII. ' I 6 dB Z I 0.8 0.6 I R dB SNRPSdB. F F -6 -I -2 2 U 4 2 dB 6 U IO INR (dB) (4 8 dB I SNR = S dB 4 4 dB Pd 0.2 2 dB SIMULATION RESULTS At first, we consider the special case of K = 4 and M = 8. Fig. 7 depicts the ROC (receiver operating characteristics) curves of the processor. Besides, IZ characteristic curves are shown in Fig. 8, where one interferer sample is considered in each subwindow. 894 10" 10.' In Fig. 8(a:) the interferer samples are considered as completely integrated. The narrow IZ results from the good performance of the excisor as well as the logarithmic detection that reduces the effect IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS VOL. 36, NO. 3 JULY 2000 1.1~; 1 ... j ~. . . . . :. . . . . .............. . ....... . . I ~ 7.. /- .7j AEYt;oLffi ~ MCA.LOC I .... lo" ........... ...... j :. : .. . . . ... . . 1 ......... . ; ..................... .............................. ........... . , .. .. . . . * . : . . : 5 0 '1. i.A - ..-_. . . j : * j i .;. . I . . ' 10 I 20 15 I I I 30 25 ....... . . . . 35 40 0 - :..e .. .. ......... . ,......... . .. ...< : : :v kGo-L@3 5 ..... j . . . . . .:. . . . . . . 10 15 10 25 30 40 35 Relatile position ofiange cells Relathe position of range cells ,ytmr-, 200 , 150 ......... : ........ :... ................................ 100 -. . . . . . . .:. ...... .:. . . . . . .:. . . . . . . .:. . . 50 0 (a) f 5 _ . 10 . . . . .: :. . . . . . . .: . . . . . .: . . 80 .: . . . . . . - .......................... 20 15 25 70 . . . . . . . : . . . . : . . . 60 O(m-1 30 35 50 40 I . :. . . . . . . .:... . . . .:. . . . . ................... .- ..; . . . . . . . :. . . . . . .:. . . . . . . . ;. ....................... 40 Relative position ofrnnge cells (b) Fig. 9. Comparison between transient behaviors of AExGO-LOG and GOCA-LOG processors confronting a relatively strong clutter region, CNR E 5 dB, K = 4, M = 8, Pfa-d = w4. (a) p f , curves. (b) Standard deviation of background samples. of interference. It can be seen that relatively large values of INR have almost no effect on Pd, because the interferers are successfully removed by the excisor. However, the presence of strong interfering targets near the main target in azimuth can cause a degradation on its detection. As an example, this case is considered in Fig. 8(b) where each interferer sample is obtained from the integration of 2 returns of an interfering target and 6 noise samples (it is denoted as partially integrated interference). The transient behavior of the algorithm confronting a relatively strong clutter with CNR S 5 dB, is shown in Fig. 9. As a worst case, the clutter is assumed to have a rather sharp edge. In order to perform a comparison, the behavior of the GOCA-LOG/CFAR processor is also shown in Fig. 9. The excellent FAR regulation of the AExGO-LOG processor is obvious. This performance is specially noticeable at the front edge of the clutter region. The function of the processor is described in more details as follows. Suppose that the test cell advances gradually from the clear region towards the clutter region. The relatively strong clutter return samples which fall in the leading reference subwindow, are removed by the excisor and have almost no effect on FAR. At the time when the test cell reaches just behind the clutter edge, all samples of the leading subwindow are excised with a high probability. As explained previously, in the case of the excision of all samples of a subwindow (that is only probable for the leading one), the regular threshold computing procedure is abandoned, and the last computed threshold is used by the detection system. Then, for the next threshold computing cycle (test cell in clutter), the excisor is made ineffective and the simple averages of two subwindows is calculated as V, and V, (see Fig. 3). I 0.8 0.6 Pd 0.4 0.2 0 Fig. 11. AExGO-LOG processor, ROC characteristic curves for case of K = 10 and M = 16. Hereafter, the CFAR processor will follow its regular algorithm. The resulted FAR regulation at the clutter edge is specially desirable for tracking the targets near coast areas. Even if the clutter is not strong and the excision of clutter return samples does not happen with a high probability, the performance of the algorithm will still be preferable to that of GOCA-LOG. This is shown in Fig. 10, where a relatively weak clutter power transition region with CNR Z 3 dB is considered. For the second special case (K = 10 and M = 16) the ROC curves are shown in Fig. 11. Since K M is relatively large, the increase pf K does not result in a considerable improvement of the detection performance. However, the increase of M results in a greater integration gain, and hence, improves the detection performance. On the other hand, the IZ characteristic curves are shown in Fig. 12, where the KHALIGHI & BASTANI: ADAPTIVE CFAR PROCESSOR FOR NONHOMOGENEOUS ENVIRONMENTS 895 1 5 dB 0.8 3 dB 0.6 SNR = 2 dB 4 dB *d 0.4 1 dB 0.2 0 dB 0 -8 -.I -6 -2 2 0 8 6 4 M R (dB) Fig. 12. AExGO-LOG processor, IZ characteristic curves; 6 interferer samples in each subwindow, K = 10, M = 16, = 10-4, completely integrated interference. lo" I ..... p, ..... lo" lo" 0 20 IO 50 40 30 GO 70 80 90 . . . 100 Relative position of range cells clutter regions and/or interfering targets. Besides its excellent performance, another favorable advantage of AExGO-LOIGprocessor is its simple structure which makes it possible to be easily implemented in real time. Use of the excising technique and the greater-of selection, enables the processor to efficiently confront the interfering targets, while exhibiting a noticeable FAR regulation at the clutter power transition regions. On the other hand, employing a feedback loop in the processor stiructure, enables it to adapt itself easily to new environmental conditions; so that its performance and its characteristics become independent of the background noise power. Moreover, in noise-only conditions, the additional endured CFAR loss of the processor, compared with GOCA-LOG is negligible. The method of determination of the processor design pararneters was discussed, and its performance analysis was performed in different situations. Although the logarithmic amplification and the integration ad radar pulses were considered in this paper, the general function of the processor can be used in the other cases, For example, for the linear detection case (AExGO-CFAR), only CO and -yD should be entered as multiplicand factors. 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(2000) CFAR processor for ESM systems applications. IEE Proceedings-Radar; Sonar and Navigation, 147, 2 (Apr. 2000), 86-92. Khalighi, M. A., and Nayebi, M. M. An ESM CFAR processor with logarithmic amplification. Submitted to IEE Proceedings-Radar; Sonar and Navigation. Khalighi, M. A. (1997) Designing a CFAR processor for an electronic warfare application. M.Sc. thesis, Sharif University of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering, Tehran, Iran, Sept. 1997. Skolnik, M. I. (1980) Introduction to Radar Systems. New York: McGraw Hill, 1980. Mohammad A. Khalighi.was born in Kerman, Iran, on March 5, 1975. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, in 1995 and 1997, respectively. He is now a Ph.D. student in INPG (Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble), Grenoble, France. From 1997 to 1998 he has worked at the department of electrical engineering of Sharif University as a design engineer. His main interests are in electronic instrumentation, high speed analog and digital circuitry, and digital signal processing with application to communication systems. His current research fields include detection and synchronization in multiple antenna mobile radio systems. Mohammad H. Bastani received his B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering in 1979 from Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. He received his “diplome d’ingenieur” and doctoral degrees from ENST (Ecole National Superieur de Telecommunications), Paris, France, in electrical engineering, in 1981 and 1984, respectively. He has been an Assistant Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering of Sharif University since 1984. His research interests are in stochastic signal processing, data fusion, and radar design. KHALIGHI & BASTANI: ADAPTIVE CFAR PROCESSOR FOR NONHOMOGENEOUS ENVIRONMENTS 897