Search
aerospace

Adaptive Radar Thresholding for Cluttered Environments
Conventional radar systems often struggle near wind farms, where large moving structures generate erratic echoes that resemble airborne targets. This system addresses that challenge with a smart thresholding mechanism. For each radar “resolution cell” (a segment of monitored space), the system scans Doppler bins and identifies the maximum signal amplitude from non-zero frequency bins. These values are stored in a dedicated memory array and analyzed across multiple radar scans (“dwells”) to generate an adaptive, aggregate threshold. A transition-state delay and configurable tracking sample period stabilize system sensitivity, preventing sudden Doppler anomalies (such as turbine blade movement) from triggering false positives. The system then compares its adaptive threshold against existing fixed thresholds, applying whichever is greater. If a cell corresponds to a known structure, such as a wind turbine (based on a stored radar map), the adaptive threshold is used; otherwise, standard methods apply. The result is a highly flexible system that reduces clutter without sacrificing sensitivity and can be integrated with existing pulse-Doppler radar platforms, including MTI and MTD variants.