High resolution time-frequency distributions for maneuvering target detection in over-the-horizon radars

A novel high-resolution time–frequency representation method is proposed for source detection and classification in over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) systems. A data-dependent kernel is applied in the ambiguity domain to capture the target signal components, which are then resolved using root-MUSIC based coherent spectrum estimation. This two-step procedure is particularly effective for analysing a multicomponent signal with time-varying complex time–Doppler signatures. By using the different time–Doppler signatures, important target manoeuvring information, which is difficult to extract using other linear and bilinear time–frequency representation methods, can be easily revealed using the proposed method.