EFFICIENT MULTI-RESOLUTION SPACE-TIME ADAPTIVE PROCESSOR

摘要

An image processing system and method. In accordance with the inventive method, adapted for use in an illustrative image processing application, a first composite input signal is provided based on plurality of data values output from a sensor in response to a scene including a target and clutter. The composite signal is processed to provide a plurality of tap weights. The tap weights are generated by the matrix of data values which is first filtered by a wavelet transform to provide a set of coefficients. The coefficients are sparsened to provide a sparse matrix. The sparse matrix is then inverse wavelet transformed to provide the tap weights. Finally, the tap weights are applied to the composite signal to yield a clutter reduced output signal. In the illustrative implementation, the matrix is a covariance matrix. However, a method for implementing the teachings of the invention in the data domain is also disclosed. In the illustrative implementation, the sparsed matrix is inverted and a set of steering vectors is applied to create the tap weights. The invention affords an enhanced Signal-to-Interference+Noise Ratio (SINR) because: (i) wavelets provide better bases for nonstationary processes and therefore offer improved sample support performance; and (ii) coefficient thresholding in wavelet domain removes noisy data that is difficult to estimate.