IET Signal Processing

Research Article

Compressed sensing-based ground MTI with ISSN 1751-9675

Received on 20th March 2016
Revised 28th July 2016
clutter rejection scheme for synthetic Accepted on 25th August 2016
E-First on 4th January 2017
aperture radar doi: 10.1049/iet-spr.2016.0156
www.ietdl.org

Amir Hosein Oveis1 , Mohammad Ali Sebt1

1ElectricalEngineering Department, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
E-mail: oveis.amirhosein@ee.kntu.ac.ir

Abstract: This study investigates moving target indication (MTI) and velocity estimation for the single-channel synthetic
aperture radar system. A four-dimensional grid is employed for location and velocity representation of any moving targets.
Clutter terms spread among all location grid cells and a small number of velocity grid cells corresponding to small velocities.
Since in practical situations, clutter spectra have a certain widening in frequency, it is favourable to cancel an arbitrarily chosen
number of clutter bins about zero Doppler. In this study, a subspace-based clutter rejection method is proposed to cancel the
stationary ground clutter in addition to clutter up to higher Doppler frequencies. That is, after suppressing the clutter
successfully, the ground MTI problem becomes sparse and a compressive sensing reconstruction algorithm is applied to solve
for the location and velocity of the moving target. To reduce the amount of data storage and computational load, some
undersampling schemes are done based on the ability of compressive sensing to solve the underdetermined set of equations.
Finally, it is shown how the proposed clutter cancellation method is important for the high data rate reduction case of
undersampling.

1 Introduction target detection can only be applied to reject zero Doppler clutter.
Owing to clutter spectral spread, above-mentioned algorithms
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can acquire high-resolution wide- cannot suppress all clutter effects. In [6], velocity estimation of
swath images of ground scenes. In recent years, combination of moving targets based on the geometric characteristic of the two-
SAR and ground moving target indication (GMTI) has attracted dimensional (2D) signature of a moving target in the RD domain is
more attention to be widely used in civil and military applications. done. This moving target velocity estimation method requires
Enormous research in the area of SAR/GMTI has led to derive signal-to-clutter ratio (SCR) ≥ 11 to work with better accuracy than
algorithms for detection, estimation velocity and providing focused 2%. In [13], a dual-channel GMTI framework is proposed in which
imaging of the moving targets. For the purpose of extracting the authors suggested a method of using compressed sensing (CS)
moving target parameters reliably, certain methods should be with only a very few echo samples to alleviate huge payloads.
employed. GMTI is achieved by solving a weighted l1 optimisation problem
Since SAR was originally developed for imaging of stationary
for every single range bin. In [14], a wide-swath GMTI method
scenes, it is hard to directly detect moving targets, particularly if
based on CS is proposed. In [15, 16], two basic undersampling
the clutter is strong [1]. Moving targets are usually smeared and
schemes that lead to storage capacity savings by reducing the
misplaced due to the motion-induced Doppler shift of the target
amount of data are discussed. In [17], Zhang et al. have utilised the
during the SAR integration time [2, 3]. That is, the range cell
geometric information of the moving target and proposed a method
migration (RCM) of the moving target is different from that of
of motion parameters estimation with the low computational load
stationary scene [4]. Detection of the moving targets and estimation
for the single-channel SAR systems.
of their parameters are rather challenging when the moving targets
In this paper, a 4D grid for location and velocity representation
are slow and small and are buried in strong stationary ground
of moving targets is introduced. In practice, a few moving targets
clutter [5]. GMTI can be achieved with single-channel SAR [6–8]
exist in the illuminated area by the radar. However, because of the
or with multi-channel SAR [9, 10]. Multi-channel SAR systems for
presence of clutter among all location grid cells, the problem of
MTI applications have been investigated by lots of literatures. Still
detection of moving targets and estimation of their velocity is not
single-channel SAR systems are simpler, cheaper and easier to
sparse. This paper addresses a novel single-channel GMTI
deploy in satellites where the potential for antenna separation is
framework using the subspace-based clutter rejection scheme to
typically limited. Thus, there has been continuing interest in MTI
make the GMTI problem sparse. Thus, by employing compressive
using single-channel SAR systems [8]. On the other hand, multi-
sensing reconstruction algorithms, the location and velocity of
channel SAR offers more degrees of freedom to relax the system
moving targets can be achieved reliably. Moreover, unlike the
design constraints and requirements such as exploiting direction-
traditional clutter suppression methods, one can obviate this
of-arrival information, resolving range–Doppler (RD) ambiguities
limitation and reject clutter up to upper velocities, for instance, 10–
and expanding the unambiguous illuminated scene. In many recent
30 m/s (wind velocity for sea clutter) as well as the stationary
papers of GMTI applications, multi-channel configurations are
ground clutter. We will show that our proposed algorithm obviates
used to suppress stationary ground clutter. In our proposed method,
the requirement of SCR ≥ 11 in [6] and can estimate moving target
single-channel SAR system would be suffice to cancel the
velocity in scenarios with SCR < 0. Two undersampling methods
stationary ground clutter as well as clutter of higher Doppler
before clutter cancellation are used to reduce data storage. The
frequencies. Employing multi-channel configuration would impose
aforementioned 4D space implies a huge computation load. In
complexity and an additional unnecessary expense to our method
addition to undersampling, to overcome this shortcoming, SAR
with no magnificent advantage. Thus, this paper focuses on single-
data shall be decomposed into several sections along azimuth
channel SAR system.
direction. It should be noted that in our proposed algorithm, unlike
Well-known techniques such as displaced phase centre antenna
the proposed method in [13], all the range cells are operated during
(DPCA) [11] and along-track interferometry (ATI) [12] for moving
only one problem solving. Thus, computational load is

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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
 σ denotes the complex reflectivity of the moving target. ωr( ⋅ ) and
ωa ⋅ represent range and azimuth envelope functions,
respectively. τ is the range fast time, c is the velocity of light, λ is
the wavelength and Kr is the slope of transmitted Linear Frequency
Modulated pulse. After range compression, the signal of a moving
target can be expressed as

2R η
src τ, η = σ × G × sinc Δ f τ − ωa η − ηc exp
c
− j4πR(η) (3)
λ

where G denotes the range compression gain and Δf represents the

Fig. 1  Geometry of the flying platform and observing a moving target
significantly lowered in this sense. The succeeding sections of this
paper are organised as follows. Section 2 presents echo model. In
Section 3, first a brief review on CS is presented, then processing
procedure including undersampling and clutter cancellation
schemes are discussed. In Section 4, simulation and experimental
results are presented. Section 5 is conclusion and further works.
2 Echo model
System geometry of the flying platform, observing a moving target,
is illustrated in Fig. 1. Side-looking platform is flying in the
direction of y-axis according to this geometry.
Instantaneous slant range of the moving target from the
platform and its approximation using Taylor series can be
expressed as (see (1)) where R0 denotes the range of closest
approach. ηc indicates the beam centre crossing time. vp is the
platform velocity. ac, aa are target accelerations and vc, va are target
velocities in cross-track and along-track directions, respectively. η
represents the azimuth slow time. In the following, it is assumed
that the moving target has a uniform motion, with neither
acceleration terms in range nor azimuth directions.
The demodulated baseband echo signal received from a moving
target can be modelled as
2R η − j4πR(η)
s τ, η = σωr τ − ωa η − ηc exp
c λ
2 (2)
2R(η)
exp jπK r τ −
c
transmitted signal bandwidth. By excluding σ and then putting all
range samples (fast time) from all pulses (slow time), row by row,
into a matrix named Ω ∈ ℂm × n, we have (see (4)) In the above
matrix, solid lines describe src ηm, τn and RCM is shown
exaggerated as the receiving echoes are not aligned. vtp and fs are
duration of compressed pulse and range sampling frequency,
respectively. J denotes the number of pulses that the moving target
is illuminated by the radar
Ls R0 × θ3 dB
J = T observ . × PRF = × PRF ≃
vp vp
(5)
R0 × (λ/L)
× PRF ≃ × PRF
vp
where Ls, θ3 dB, L and PRF denote synthetic aperture length, 3 dB
azimuth antenna beamwidth, real aperture length and pulse
repetition frequency (PRF), respectively. Tobserv. represents
observation time for one synthetic aperture length. For the sake of
simplicity, we assume RCM effect in the receiving echoes is
corrected with the available methods in [18, 19] or other Range
Cell Migration Correction methods.
3 GMTI/SAR using compressed sensing
3.1 Compressed sensing
In this section, a very brief synopsis on the CS problem will be
presented. A vector f ϵℂN × 1 is K-sparse if it only contains K non-
zero elements. Signal f can be recovered from M measurements
under some assumption, where M is proportional to K × log(N /K) .
This number of measurements can be significantly smaller than N
and is only greater than the information level K by a logarithmic
factor [20].
A typical CS problem is as follows:
y = ΨΦ f + n = A f + n (6)

2 2
1 1
R(n) = R0 − vc(η − ηc) − ac(η − ηc)2 + (vp − va)(η − ηc) − aa(η − ηc)2
2 2
2 (1)
vp − va − R0ac 2
≃ R0 − vc η − ηc + η − ηc
2R0

range samples
(fast time τn)
| | | | … |
−
2R(η) ť p ∗ f s
− ∗ fs (4)
c
− 0_______0 … 0
Ω= 0 0 0 0 … }J
pulse number 0_______0 … 0
0 0 0 0 …
(slow time ηm) 0_______0 … 0
0 0 0 0 …
⋮

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where ℂN × 1, yϵℂM × 1 (M ≤ N) denote the desired signal and of the 4D space (location and velocity grids), can form columns of
mn × N xN yN v N v
collected data, respectively. Matrices Ψ and Φ indicate the the dictionary matrix named Φϵℂ x y
measurement matrix and dictionary matrix, respectively. Matrix
A ϵℂM × N is called sensing matrix and n denotes additive noise.
Recovering f from y is CS objective. The problem is that the noisy Φ = φ^ 1, 1, 1, 1, φ^ 1, 1, 1, 2, …, φ^ 1, 1, 1, N , φ^ 1, 1, 2, 1, …,
vy
system of equations y = Af + n is underdetermined and (14)
consequently has an infinite number of solution candidates. The φ^ x∗, y∗, v∗, v∗, …, φ^ N
x, N y, N v , N v
aforementioned equations can be interpreted in terms of the x y x y
columns of matrix A as denoted a1,  a2,  …,  aN
The fundamental CS equation can now be derived as follows:
N
y= ∑ f nan +n (7) s = Φf + n (15)
n=1

where the vector sϵℂmn × 1 denotes the collected signal consisting of

where fn for n ∈ (1, 2, …, N) are the elements of vector f.
Recovery of sparse signals can be expected from matrices
satisfying restricted isometry property as to exist a constant
δkϵ (0, 1) such that
1 − δk x22 ≤ Ax22 ≤ 1 + δk x22 (8)
δk denotes the isometry constant of order K.
3.2 Processing procedure
The aim is to find [x,  y,  vx,  vy]T as the parameters of the moving
target. (x,  y) are locations of the moving target over horizontal
plane of x−y. (vx,  vy) are the velocity of the moving target on x and
y directions. Parameters on x,  y axes are formed from projection of
slant range plane on the horizontal plane x−y. The first step is to
define a 4D space for [x,  y,  vx,  vy]T. In other words, in this
domain N x × N y × N v × N v elements exist. Nx × Ny elements
x y
denote the location grid and N v × N v elements denote velocity
x y
grid. It should be noted that all the parameters x,  y,  vx,  vy are
discrete as follows:
x0
x ∈ x0 + kδx | 0 ≤ k ≤ N x − 1 , δx ≤ δr (9)
2
x +h
0
2
clutter and echoes of moving targets and also receiver thermal
noise (nϵℂmn × 1). In other words, vector s is formed from a certain
matrix Ω, including different pulses (ηm), each containing τn range
N xN yN v N v ×1
samples, by using the operation vec(·). Vector f ϵℂ x y
,
which is the solution of (15), represents a vector of reflectivities σ
from moving targets and clutter cells. Assuming only one moving
target present in the illuminated area by the radar, vector f as the
solution of (15), after correct solving by some CS algorithms,
would consist of an element σt*that indicates the location
coordinates and velocity of the moving target. The magnitude of
this element is the reflectivity of the moving target. There would be
a lot of clutter terms in vector f, spreading among all location cells
but over only a very few velocity cells. That is, clutter terms exist
everywhere but with limited velocity. For example, (vx, vy) = 0, 0
indicates stationary ground clutter that exists over all Nx × Ny
location grid cells. The magnitudes of clutter terms in vector f are
related to SCR. Noise terms would also spread among all location
and velocity grid cells. The position of σt* in vector f, for the
moving target of (x = x∗, y = y∗, vx = v∗x , vy = v∗y) is calculated by
(16)
m = nx∗ − 1 N yN v N v + ny∗ − 1 N v N v + nv∗ − 1 N v
x y x y x y
(16)
+ nv∗
y

y ∈ {y0 + kδa | 0 ≤ k ≤ N y − 1} (10) σt* is the mth element of vector f. nx* shows the position of x*
among Nx elements of x. ny*, nv∗ , nv∗ have the similar descriptions
N vx N vx x y
vx ∈ vx0 + kδvx | − +1≤k ≤ (11) as nx*. For multiple moving targets, the collected signal S can be
2 2
modelled as
N vy N vy
vy ∈ vy0 + kδvy | − +1≤k ≤ (12) S = St + Sc + n
2 2
St = σt1St1 + σt2St2 + … + σtkStk (17)
δr and δa, as illustrated in Fig. 1, are range and azimuth resolutions, Sc = σc1Sc1 + σc2Sc2 + … + σcpScp
respectively. δa is L/2. δx is the distance between location grid cells
along the x-axis in the grid, should be smaller than minimum of where St denotes the reflected signals from k moving targets. Sc
δr cos(α), where α is the grazing angle and minimum value of denotes the reflected signals from p clutter cells in
cos(α) is {x0 /[ (x20 + h2)]}. The parameter h denotes platform N x × N y × N v × N v domain. σtk and σcp denote reflectivities from
x y
height and x0 represents the projection of nearest slant range on the the kth moving target and the pth clutter cell, respectively. S can be
horizontal x−y-plane. expressed in summation form over all location and velocity grids
Operator vec(·) is used to form a vector out of the matrix Ω in as follows:
(4). This operator stacks the columns of a matrix into a vector. For
any given moving target located at location (x = x*,  y = y*) with x N x y N y vx(N vx) vy(N vy)
velocity (vx = v∗x , vy = v∗y) we form the vector φ^ as S= ∑∑ ∑ ∑ [σtSt + σcSc] + n (18)
x1 y1 vx 1 vy 1
φ^ x∗, y∗, v∗, v∗ = vec(ΩT ) (13)
x y
As only a limited number of moving targets exist in the illuminated
area by the radar, the part of vector f which is comprised of σt,
The reason behind the usage of transpose operation in (13) is to
reflectivities from moving targets, would be sparse. However, the
stack the responses to each transmitted pulse consecutively.
problem that does not let the vector f be sparse is the existence of
Without loss of generality, we assume the exact values of moving
clutter spreading among all location cells with slow velocities.
target's parameters, i.e. [x,  y,  vx,  vy]T, can be found in the grid. Thus, CS cannot recover f from collected data vector s in (15). So,
N x × N y × N v × N v different φ^ vectors, related to all the elements suppressing the clutter terms is needed. Before clutter cancellation
x y

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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
procedure, the concept of undersampling will be introduced and
employed.
3.2.1 Undersampling: A significant feature of CS is its ability to
solve an underdetermined set of equations, where the number of
unknowns is greater than the number of equations. Hence, if the
number of collected data in vector s decreases, CS can solve (15)
and find the sparsest solution f. Physical interpretation of
undersampling is that the sensor does not need to sample all the
returns with a constant sampling frequency. That is, to decrease the
data rate, only some parts of returns of each transmitted pulse are
recorded. Obviously, this is equivalent to receiving all the returns
and then discarding some of them randomly. Mathematically, one
technique for undersampling is to omit some rows of dictionary
matrix Φ via multiplying by matrix Ψ. By this means, the
dimensions of dictionary matrix Φ will be reduced. The same
should be applied to collected data vector s
Φus = Ψ × Φ
sus = Ψ × s
where Φus is the undersampled version of dictionary matrix Φ,
with some omitted rows in comparison with Φ. sus denotes the
undersampled version of collected data vector s. Ψ can be defined
as (21). In fact, Ψ is the identity matrix with some omitted rows
randomly. Dimensions of Ψ are αmn × mn and the number of Φ’s
rows is mn. Value of α  = 1, making Ψ a square matrix, denotes no
undersampling while α  = 0 denotes omitting all the Φ’s rows
1 0 0 … 0 sus_cs = Φ⊥c × sus
0 0 1 … 0
Ψ= ⋅
⋅
⋅
A value of 0.5, as a reasonable value for α, indicates that data rate
can be lowered by half, though this number is dependent on type of
CS reconstruction algorithm and also system model. Multiplicative
matrix Ψ does not have any effect on size of the 4D space of
N x × N y × N v × N v . On the other hand, after undersampling,
x y
(α × 100)% of each column in Φ will be maintained in Φus.
There is no unique approach to undersample SAR data. Another
method is to use a matrix with similar dimensions of above-
mentioned matrix Ψ, filled with either Gaussian or sub-Gaussian
elements [20]. That is, using linear combination with various
random weighting. In other words, after undersampling, a certain
column of Φus has smaller length in comparison with what had
been before, and each sample of it is linear combination of
elements of that Φ’s column with different random weighting.
Furthermore, some advanced methods to design the measurement
matrix Ψ via solving a separate optimisation problem iteratively
are proposed in [21–23]. These methods seek for the matrix Ψ that
has minimum mutual coherence and the related discussion is
beyond the scope of this paper.
3.2.2 Clutter cancellation: In this section, an extensive clutter
cancellation approach is derived. Since in practical situations
clutter spectrum has a certain width in frequency, it is favourable to
suppress its Doppler spectrum arbitrarily. Such an approach will be
employed to cancel the stationary ground clutter in addition to
clutter with upper velocities, for instance, 10–30 m/s (wind
velocity). The aim of CS is to solve the below equation for the
sparsest f
sus = Φus × f + n = f 1φus1 + f 2φus2
N xN yN v N v
+… + f N xN yN v N v φus x y
+n
x y
158
where fi and φusi for i ∈ (1, …, N xN yN v N v ) are the elements of
x y
vector f and columns of Φus, respectively. Each column of matrix
Φus corresponds to an element from the vector f, solution of (15). It
is evident that only after rejecting clutter terms, vector f will be
sparse. Therefore, (15) can be solved correctly by CS algorithms
and the reliable values of vector f’s elements which indicate
moving targets’ parameters [x,  y,  vx,  vy]T will be found. Clutter
terms spread over all location grid cells but over a few velocity
grid cells. A matrix named as Φc that indicates the clutter space is
formed from some columns of undersampled dictionary matrix
Φus, corresponding to the clutter elements of vector f. In other
words, to suppress the clutter terms that have velocity up to an
arbitrarily chosen velocity V[m/s], columns of undersampled
dictionary matrix Φus, corresponding to all location grid cells and
velocity grid cells from −V[m/s] up to V[m/s], form columns of the
matrix Φc. Now Φ⊥c is formed via projection as follows:
(19)
Φ⊥c = I − Φc(ΦH
c Φc) Φc
−1 H
(23)
(20)
Φ⊥c is orthogonal to the clutter space. This means that, via
multiplying Φus by Φ⊥c , those columns of Φus that correspond to
the clutter terms will turn to zero. In fact, the more clutter terms are
omitted, the higher velocity of clutter can be suppressed. The rest
of the Φus’s columns will be changed but not suppressed. Vector
sus should also be multiplied by Φ⊥c . Therefore, the undersampled
clutter suppressed versions of s and Φ are
(24)
(21) Φus_cs = Φ⊥c × Φus (25)
To avoid matrix inversion that has the complexity of order O(N3), a
recursive approach to realise matrix Φ⊥c is suggested in [24] as
follows:
−1
ζ = Φc ΦH
c Φc ΦH H
c = Φc DΦc (26)
I − ζ k − 1 ϕk ϕH
k (I − ζ k − 1)
ζk = ζk − 1 + , k = 1, …, N (27)
ϕH ⊥
k ζ k − 1 ϕk
ζ ⊥k = I − ζ k, k = 1, …, N (28)
Φ⊥c = I − ζ N , N = dimension of clutter space (29)
ϕk is the column of clutter space at the kth iteration. Matrix Φ⊥c is a
square matrix; therefore, dimensions of vectors sus_cs and sus are
the same. The matrices Φus_cs and Φus have also identical
dimensions. Now, we should omit all the columns of Φus_cs that as
a result of multiplication in (25) have approximately turned to zero.
As a consequence, the size of the solution vector f, output of CS
reconstruction algorithms, will be changed. It means that, based on
the positions of eliminated columns Φus_cs, solution of CS
reconstruction algorithms should be shifted to reach to the correct
values of the moving targets’ parameters [x,  y,  vx,  vy]T. This is
performed to make the processing easier for CS reconstruction
algorithms by decreasing the size of solution vector f via omitting
its known zeros. Matrix Φus_cs where its zero columns are omitted
and vector sus_cs are the inputs of CS reconstruction algorithms and
vector f is its output. The correct values of moving targets’
parameters can be found after a simple shift based on the positions
of zero columns of Φus_cs that have been omitted. At this stage, the
(22) output of CS reconstruction algorithms is sparse, indicating the true
locations and velocities of the moving targets. The whole
IET Signal Process., 2017, Vol. 11 Iss. 2, pp. 155-164
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 location grid covers the area of 270 × 6 m2, with step size of 30 and
2 m in x and y directions, respectively.
In other words, x ∈{5005 m, 5275 m} and y ∈{108 m, 114 m}.
Number of elements in location grid are Nx = 10,  Ny = 4. Velocity
grid spans a domain of vx ε {  − 64 m/s,  72 m/s} with step size of
δv = 8 m/s and vy ε {  − 10 m/s,  11.25 m/s} with step size of
x
δv = 2.25 m/s . Number of elements in velocity grid are N v = 18
y x
and N v = 11. It should be noted that the 4D space of
y
N x × N y × N v × N v is comprised of 7920 elements. Length of the
x y
vector fin (15) and also number of different columns in dictionary
matrix Φ are 7920. All the CS reconstruction algorithm has to do is
to find those columns of Φus_cs that have contributed the collected
signal s. Hence, the location and velocity of the moving target will
be estimated. As a matter of fact, if grid elements consist the true
values of (x = x∗, y = y∗, vx = v∗x, vy = v∗y), moving targets’
parameters would be estimated exactly in sufficient SCNR levels
(SCNR is signal-to-clutter plus noise ratio). Otherwise, closest
neighbours are determined based on the girds. For each of the
probable grid points, there is a Ω matrix that its vector form makes
a column of dictionary matrix Φ.
Number of rows in dictionary matrix Φ is 7602. This number
comes from total elements of matrix Ω. It means that after stacking
columns of ΩT, a vector of length 7602 forms a column of
dictionary matrix Φ and other columns are formed from their
corresponding Ω matrices.
It should be noted that to decrease computational load, the
number of location and velocity grid cells is lowered and the
distance between adjacent bins are several times of resolution
specially in the ground range direction.
Three moving targets, with their parameters specified in
Table 2, are defined. For the first target which is located at x = 
5155 m, y = 114 m and with velocity of v∗x = 64 m/s,
v∗y = 11.25 m/s we go through processing procedure. These
numbers exist in the grids. That is, no mapping will be occurred
and the result will be exact in adequate SCNR levels.
Consequently, the positions of the first moving target's parameters
Fig. 2  Whole processing chain block diagram of the proposed algorithm in the gird are nx∗ = 6, ny∗ = 4, nv∗ = 17, nv∗ = 11. Therefore,
x y
without considering the omitting of zero columns of dictionary
Table 1 Radar parameters matrix, based on (16), m = 4741th element of solution vector f will
carrier frequency 1 GHz be distinct.
PRF 2000 Hz At this stage, the processing task is undersampling where the
platform velocity 148 m/s data load will be decreased. Both undersampling schemes, the case
signal bandwidth 30 MHz of an identity matrix with some randomly omitted rows and the
case of Gaussian random matrix, have been used. A slight
swath middle range 5.14 km
improvement can be seen from the result of the second scheme as
total observation time 20 s will be shown later, among performance evaluation diagrams.
Thus, the second scheme for undersampling is used for the rest of
simulations. The clutter is spread over all location grid cells and a
Table 2 Parameters of three moving targets for computer few velocity grid cells related to slow moving objects. Hence, two
simulations (or three, in another scenario) elements of each of vx and vy are
Number x, m y, m vx, m/s vy, m/s considered as clutter terms. It means, 10 × 4 × 2 × 2 = 160 (or 10 × 
1 5155 114 64 11.25 4 × 3 × 3 = 360) clutter terms would exist in the solution vector f.
2 5245 112 −32 −5.5 Existence of 160 (or 360) clutter terms among 7920 elements of
3 5065 110 24 −7.75 solution vector f cancels the sparsity of vector f and CS algorithms
cannot find the correct solution of (15). Clutter terms have the
magnitude of 3, 10, 20 dB relative to the power of reflected signal
processing chain block diagram of the proposed algorithm is shown (SCR = −3, −10, −20 dB). Clutter suppression scheme now will be
in Fig. 2. employed as a sparsifying tool for the vector f. After applying
matrix Φ⊥c to the dictionary matrix Φ and collected signal s, 160
4 Simulation, experimental results and related (or 360) columns of dictionary matrix Φ will be transformed to
zero. By discarding the zero columns of dictionary matrix Φ, size
discussion
of the solution vector f will be decreased from 7920 to 7760 (or
4.1 Computer simulation 7560). Thus, based on the position of omitted columns of
dictionary matrix Φ, the result of CS reconstruction algorithms
In this section, a performance analysis of the proposed algorithm is
should be simply shifted to represent valid values. Here, orthogonal
conducted. Radar parameters are listed in Table 1. On the basis of
matching pursuit (OMP) [25] algorithm is employed to solve the
the processing speed, a large image shall be decomposed to several
fundamental equation of (15). Simulation results are illustrated in
sub-images on the azimuth direction. Thus, for a certain sub-image,
the following figures.

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Fig. 3  Moving targets in illuminated area by the RADAR with highlighted 360 clutter terms, SCR = SNR = −10 undersampling ratio = 70%
(a) Moving targets location coordinates on x−y horizontal plane, (b) Moving targets location coordinates and velocity in x-direction, (c) Moving targets location coordinates and
velocity in y-direction

Fig. 4  Performance analysis of the proposed scheme for the case of SCR = −3 dB and different SNR levels and undersampling ratios
(a) Velocity error percentage, (b) Location error percentage

In Fig. 3, the results of whole processing chain are illustrated.
In this scenario, SCR = signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) = −10 dB and
only 30% of received data is used (undersampling ratio = 70%).
About 360 clutter terms have been defined and then omitted via
clutter suppression scheme. Highlighted areas denote that three
grid points on each of vx and vy directions are assumed clutter and
then omitted. Three moving targets are successfully detected and
their velocities are also found.
In Fig. 4, results for the case of SCR = −3 dB and different SNR
and undersampling ratios are depicted. It should be noted that the
velocity error percentage is calculated as (V est − V ∗)/V ∗ × 100
2 2 2 2
where V ∗ = (v∗x) + (v∗y) and V est = (vest est ∗ ∗
x ) + (vy ) . v x and vy
denote the true velocities of the moving target along x and y
directions, respectively. vest est
x and vy represent the estimated values
for the velocities of the moving target along x and y directions,
respectively. The same formulation is used for location error
percentage.
As illustrated in Fig. 4, when SCR and SNR are not highly
critical, the proposed algorithm is capable to detect the moving
target and estimate its velocity along x and y axes. By decreasing
SNR or increasing undersampling ratio, the probability of
successful GMTI achievement will be fallen. Simulations are
conducted in the Monte Carlo loop with 200 iterations to have the
reliable results. In Fig. 5, we have illustrated the results of two
scenarios to demonstrate the importance of clutter suppression part
in the performance of the proposed algorithm.
In Figs. 5a and b, the results of whole processing chain with
and without applying clutter suppression part are depicted to
magnify the worth of this stage. In this scenario, SCR = SNR = 
−10 dB and 160 clutter terms exist and the same number of clutter
terms is omitted. In Figs. 5c and d, the effect of incorrect decision
in number of omitting clutter terms is shown. About 360 clutter
terms exist in the vector f and two error diagrams are plotted for
the case of SCR = SNR = −10 dB. In one graph, three velocities
along each of x and y directions are omitted (360 clutter) and in the
other graph two velocities along each of x and y directions are

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Fig. 5  Effects of clutter suppression part on performance of the proposed scheme
(a) Velocity error percentage of the proposed algorithm without applying clutter suppression part, (b) Location error percentage of the proposed algorithm without applying clutter
suppression part, (c) Velocity error percentage of the proposed algorithm as a result of underestimating the number of clutter terms, (d) Location error percentage of the proposed
algorithm as a result of underestimating the number of clutter terms
Fig. 6  Comparison between two undersampling schemes
(a) Velocity error percentage, (b) Location error percentage
omitted (160 clutter). As it can be seen from Figs. 5a and b, the
results without clutter suppression are not reliable. The
performance of the proposed algorithm experiences a slight
decrease as the number of omitted clutter terms is smaller from
exact number of clutter terms that exist. This matter is more critical
when the SCR is low. In other words, when the number of clutter
terms is underestimated, the proposed algorithm needs a higher
level of SCR to compensate this mismatch. For example, in the
above case SCR > 10 dB is required.
In Fig. 6, performance of the proposed algorithm with either
two undersampling schemes is illustrated. The first one is identity
matrix with some randomly omitted rows and the second one is a
similar dimensions matrix filled with random Gaussian numbers.
Both techniques produce a multiplicative matrix.
As previously mentioned, the gain of second technique is more.
Thus, in all other simulations, we have used that.
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© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
Fig. 7 is the last diagram in this part to calculate improvement
factor (IF) as the SCNR(out)/SCNR(in). In Fig. 7a, we can see the
result of OMP algorithm after applying clutter suppression scheme.
In Fig. 7b, position of the moving target among clutter terms is
specified by an arrow. In this scenario, only first moving target is
defined and SCR = SNR = −10 dB and undersampling ratio is 50%.
It is obvious that after applying clutter suppression scheme, the
input of OMP algorithm will be sparse. Thus, a significant IF is
achieved. For this scenario, IF = 21 dB is achieved. The same
assessment on IF of clutter suppression scheme is done in [14],
where IF = 14 dB for detection of four moving targets and IF = 4 
dB for detection of one moving target is claimed.
4.2 Comparison with pervious GMTI methods
In the following, we compare our results with other papers. In [6],
the required SCR for velocity estimation of moving target is 11 dB
161
Fig. 7  IF calculation
(a) Solution vector f (after clutter suppression), (b) Position of moving target among 160 clutter terms

Fig. 8  Imaging scene and algorithm result

(a) SAR unprocessed data, (b) Results after applying clutter suppression scheme and other processing steps

to work with better accuracy than 2%. However, we have shown in GHz, PRF is 850 Hz and range sampling frequency is 90 MHz.
the above simulations that our proposed method can estimate Note that to use the real dataset, first a dictionary matrix based on
moving target velocity in SCR < 0. For example, the case of SCR =  above-mentioned radar parameters and some others, should be
SNR = −10 with undersampling ratio <70% leads to proper constructed. Imaging scene consists of two moving targets in an
velocity estimation. However, velocity estimation accuracy in our urban environment. Other processing steps are the same as shown
proposed algorithm does not only depend on SCR, SNR and in Fig. 2. In Fig. 8a, we have illustrated the unprocessed data
undersampling ratio. If moving target velocity along either of x or y which is a small part of a big scene. After applying the proposed
directions does not exist in velocity grid, the accuracy of this part processing chain, the locations of moving targets are found and two
will be fallen. That is, the distance between elements of velocity moving targets are marked as the final results in Fig. 8b. Velocity
grid plays a major role in velocity estimation accuracy. IF of the of first and second moving targets along either (x, y) directions are
proposed clutter suppression scheme for the case of detected one estimated as (36 m/s, 30 m/s) and (24 m/s, 32 m/s), respectively.
moving target is much higher than what is claimed in [14]. As Comparing with true location and velocity of each moving target
previously mentioned, most clutter suppression methods can only from global positioning system data, it is calculated that velocity
reject stationary ground clutter. While the proposed algorithm can estimation has the mean error of 8% and location estimation
reject other type of clutter as well, for example, sea clutter. The experiences the mean error of 5%. It should be emphasised that to
comparison part is summarised in Table 3. mitigate computational load, the number of location and velocity
grid cells is lowered. That is, the distance between adjacent bins
4.3 Experimental results are several times of resolution on either directions of location and
velocity grid. Hence, a certain level of error in estimation of
To verify the efficiency of the proposed GMTI framework, we velocities and locations of moving targets is inevitable.
apply it to real data. The raw dataset is collected by a single One more real data example with multiple targets for
antenna C-band SAR system. The radar carrier frequency is 5.41  confirming the effectiveness of our proposed method and
comparison with the results from the methods of [6, 14] is provided
Table 3 Comparison with other methods as follows. The raw dataset are collected by a dual-channel X-band
Previous Parameter Advantages of the SAR system. The radar carrier frequency is 8.85 GHz, PRF is 1 
methods proposed method kHz and range sampling frequency is 60 MHz. Imaging scene
consists of four moving targets. In Fig. 9a, the stationary imaging
Zhu et al. [14] IF = 14 dB IF = 21 dB
of the scene is illustrated. Owing to unknown motion parameters,
Li et al. [6] requires SCR > 11  can work in SCR = −10 dB moving targets are smeared. In Fig. 9b, the result of our proposed
dB algorithm with undersampling ratio of 50% is depicted. As can be
DPCA [11] and ATI only reject zero can reject clutter of an seen, four moving targets are found. In Figs. 9c and d, the results of
[12] Doppler clutter arbitrary number of Doppler the proposed methods in [14, 6] are illustrated, respectively. Only
bins around zero Doppler the second and the third moving targets, which are located in the

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Fig. 9  Comparison with previous methods via real data simulation
(a) Stationary imaging of the scene, (b) Result of the proposed method, (c) Moving target detection after clutter suppression of the method in [14], (d) 2D search results of the
method in [6]
Table 4 Comparison of the velocity results [azimuth velocity
(m/s) and range velocity (m/s)]
Number True velocities The proposed method Method in [6]
1 (2.41, 35.2) (2.2, 37.1)
2 (25.43, 19.71) (24.1, 18.2) (26.2, 19.1)
3 (17.34, 13.42) (16.4, 12.2)
4 (15.11, 11.76) (16.1, 12.8)
middle of the scene, are found by the methods in [14, 6]. In fact,
the other moving targets are missed as they are located in the
portion of the scene where SCR is low. In Fig. 9c, moving targets
detection after clutter suppression, using CS with undersampling
ratio of 50% is shown. In Fig. 9d, a 2D search on the same velocity
grid, which is used by our proposed algorithm, is done. In other
words, the range and azimuth velocities of moving targets are
estimated by a 2D search provided that the second range
compression and RCM correction are successfully done [6].
In the search result, two peaks are found which corresponds to
the velocities of the second and the third moving targets in Fig. 9a.
The proposed method in [14] is not capable of the estimation of
moving target velocity. The moving target true velocities, together
with the results of our proposed method and the method in [6], are
summarised in Table 4. It can be seen that the velocity estimation
results from the proposed method in [6] have smaller mean error
than our proposed method. However, it has missed the first and
fourth moving targets due to the small SCR.
5 Conclusion and further works
In this paper, a GMTI/SAR framework using compressive sensing
is proposed to find the location and velocity of moving targets. A
IET Signal Process., 2017, Vol. 11 Iss. 2, pp. 155-164
© The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2016
4D grid for location and velocity representation of any moving
targets is introduced. Existence of clutter terms over all location
cells and a few velocity grid cells does not let the scene be sparse
— and consequently CS reconstruction algorithm cannot reach the
true results. Thus, a clutter rejection scheme is used. This is done in
such a way that we can control the clutter spectra width. For
(16.8, 13) example, clutter terms with up to wind velocity 30 m/s can be
— suppressed. Most previous clutter suppression methods only cancel
the zero Doppler clutter. To relieve the inherent high computation
load in SAR systems, two undersampling methods are also
discussed. Then, by employing a CS reconstruction algorithm and
via simulations and experimental results, we have shown that this
framework can successfully find location and velocity of moving
targets. It is shown that our proposed method outperforms the
method of [6, 14] in low SCR scenarios. However, the results from
[6] have smaller mean velocity error than our method in higher
SCR scenarios. The upper limit of velocity for clutter suppression
should be carefully chosen unless one is seeking for very fast
moving targets. It should be noted that in case of high
undersampling, underestimating the clutter, i.e. choosing small
velocity for the upper limit of clutter, leads to unreliable results
from CS algorithm. Further works can be focused on usage of
multi-antenna in this system, different clutter rejection schemes
that have lower computation load, algorithms for resolving velocity
ambiguities, different undersampling methods and discussion on
target acceleration.
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