CA-CFAR performance with linear, square-law, and fourth-power detectors

Simulations are made for cell-averaging constant false alarm rate (CA-CFAR) performance with non-fluctuating targets and inputs from envelope detectors having linear, square-law, and fourth-power responses. Simulated Weibull distributed samples are used to represent the statistics of radar clutter and noise. Assumptions include probability of false alarm of 10−3 and 10−4, with the number of samples summed in each CA-CFAR window being 32 or 64. Results of probability of detection versus signal-to-clutter and CFAR loss calculations are included.