arXiv subjects

Muralidhar Rangaswamy

Publications and source records attributed to Muralidhar Rangaswamy.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Decoding in the presence of ISI without interleaving -- ORBGRAND-AI

Inter symbol interference (ISI), which occurs in a wide variety of channels, is a result of time dispersion. It can be mitigated by equalization, which results in noise coloring. Inspired by the development of Approximate Independence in statistical physics, for such colored noise we propose a decoder called Ordered Reliability Bits Guessing Random Additive Noise Decoding (ORBGRAND-AI) that operates without the need for turbo equalization or interleaving. By foregoing interleaving, ORBGRAND-AI can deliver the same, or lower, block error rate (BLER) for the same amount of energy per information bit in an ISI channel as a state-of-the-art soft input decoder, such as Cyclic Redundancy Check Assisted-Successive Cancellation List (CA-SCL) decoding, with an interleaver. To assess the decoding performance of ORBGRAND-AI, we consider delay tap models and their associated colored noise. In particular, we examine a two-tap dicode ISI channel as well as an ISI channel derived from data from RFView, a physics-informed modeling and simulation tool. We investigate the dicode and RFView channel under a variety of imperfect channel state information assumptions and show that a second order autoregressive model adequately represents the RFView channel effect.

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arXiv2026

The Benefit of Decoder-Provided Pilots in Highly Dynamic Channels

Communications in highly dynamic channels relying on training-based channel estimation experience a trade-off between increasing channel measurement accuracy by sending more frequent training sequences and increasing data rate by sending fewer training sequences. Simultaneously, most communication systems use forward error correction to enable error detection and correction at the receiver. This paper presents decoder-provided pilots for time-varying channels by using decoded codewords as training sequences to update the channel estimate at the receiver. In contrast to approaches such as data-aided channel estimation, decision-feedback equalization, joint channel estimation and error correction, and turbo equalization, the decoder-provided pilots approach is non-iterative, which is ideal for low-latency requirements in highly dynamic scenarios. Furthermore, it is modulation-, code-, and decoder-agnostic, meaning it can be implemented on top of virtually any communication system that uses forward error correction. From an information-theoretic perspective, we derive the fundamental limits of decoder-provided pilots' ability to simultaneously sense the channel and transmit data. Simulation results demonstrate that decoder-provided pilots significantly improve performance, that when coding across frequency, soft-output can further enhance performance, and that when coding across time, short codes can outperform long codes of the same rate in fast-fading channels.

cs.IT↗

arXiv2025

RASPNet: A Benchmark Dataset for Radar Adaptive Signal Processing Applications

We present a large-scale dataset called RASPNet for radar adaptive signal processing (RASP) applications to support the development of data-driven models within the adaptive radar community. RASPNet exceeds 16 TB in size and comprises 100 realistic scenarios compiled over a variety of topographies and land types across the contiguous United States. For each scenario, RASPNet comprises 10,000 clutter realizations from an airborne radar setting, which can be used to benchmark radar and complex-valued learning algorithms. RASPNet intends to fill a prominent gap in the availability of a large-scale, realistic dataset that standardizes the evaluation of RASP techniques and complex-valued neural networks. We outline its construction, organization, and several applications, including a transfer learning example to demonstrate how RASPNet can be used for real-world adaptive radar scenarios.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2025

Approximate MLE of High-Dimensional STAP Covariance Matrices with Banded & Spiked Structure -- A Convex Relaxation Approach

Estimating the clutter-plus-noise covariance matrix in high-dimensional STAP is challenging in the presence of Internal Clutter Motion (ICM) and a high noise floor. The problem becomes more difficult in low-sample regimes, where the Sample Covariance Matrix (SCM) becomes ill-conditioned. To capture the ICM and high noise floor, we model the covariance matrix using a ``Banded+Spiked'' structure. Since the Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) for this model is non-convex, we propose a convex relaxation which is formulated as a Frobenius norm minimization with non-smooth convex constraints enforcing banded sparsity. This relaxation serves as a provable upper bound for the non-convex likelihood maximization and extends to cases where the covariance matrix dimension exceeds the number of samples. We derive a variational inequality-based bound to assess its quality. We introduce a novel algorithm to jointly estimate the banded clutter covariance and noise power. Additionally, we establish conditions ensuring the estimated covariance matrix remains positive definite and the bandsize is accurately recovered. Numerical results using the high-fidelity RFView radar simulation environment demonstrate that our algorithm achieves a higher Signal-to-Clutter-plus-Noise Ratio (SCNR) than state-of-the-art methods, including TABASCO, Spiked Covariance Stein Shrinkage, and Diagonal Loading, particularly when the covariance matrix dimension exceeds the number of samples.

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arXiv2024

CoFAR Clutter Estimation using Covariance-Free Bayesian Learning

A cognitive fully adaptive radar (CoFAR) adapts its behavior on its own within a short period of time in response to changes in the target environment. For the CoFAR to function properly, it is critical to understand its operating environment through estimation of the clutter channel impulse response (CCIR). In general, CCIR is sparse but prior works either ignore it or estimate the CCIR by imposing sparsity as an explicit constraint in their optimization problem. In this paper, contrary to these studies, we develop covariance-free Bayesian learning (CoFBL) techniques for estimating sparse CCIR in a CoFAR system. In particular, we consider a multiple measurement vector scenario and estimate a simultaneously sparse (row sparse) CCIR matrix. Our CoFBL framework reduces the complexity of conventional sparse Bayesian learning through the use of the diagonal element estimation rule and conjugate gradient descent algorithm. We show that the framework is applicable to various forms of CCIR sparsity models: group, joint, and joint-cum-group. We evaluate our method through numerical experiments on a data set generated using RFView, a high-fidelity modeling and simulation tool. We derive Bayesian Cramér-Rao bounds for the various considered scenarios to benchmark the performance of our algorithms. Our results demonstrate that the proposed CoFBL-based approaches perform better than the existing popular approaches such as multiple focal underdetermined system solver and simultaneous orthogonal matching pursuit.

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arXiv2024

Data-Driven Target Localization Using Adaptive Radar Processing and Convolutional Neural Networks

Leveraging the advanced functionalities of modern radio frequency (RF) modeling and simulation tools, specifically designed for adaptive radar processing applications, this paper presents a data-driven approach to improve accuracy in radar target localization post adaptive radar detection. To this end, we generate a large number of radar returns by randomly placing targets of variable strengths in a predefined area, using RFView, a high-fidelity, site-specific, RF modeling & simulation tool. We produce heatmap tensors from the radar returns, in range, azimuth [and Doppler], of the normalized adaptive matched filter (NAMF) test statistic. We then train a regression convolutional neural network (CNN) to estimate target locations from these heatmap tensors, and we compare the target localization accuracy of this approach with that of peak-finding and local search methods. This empirical study shows that our regression CNN achieves a considerable improvement in target location estimation accuracy. The regression CNN offers significant gains and reasonable accuracy even at signal-to-clutter-plus-noise ratio (SCNR) regimes that are close to the breakdown threshold SCNR of the NAMF. We also study the robustness of our trained CNN to mismatches in the radar data, where the CNN is tested on heatmap tensors collected from areas that it was not trained on. We show that our CNN can be made robust to mismatches in the radar data through few-shot learning, using a relatively small number of new training samples.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2024

Data-Driven Target Localization: Benchmarking Gradient Descent Using the Cramer-Rao Bound

In modern radar systems, precise target localization using azimuth and velocity estimation is paramount. Traditional unbiased estimation methods have utilized gradient descent algorithms to reach the theoretical limits of the Cramer Rao Bound (CRB) for the error of the parameter estimates. As an extension, we demonstrate on a realistic simulated example scenario that our earlier presented data-driven neural network model outperforms these traditional methods, yielding improved accuracies in target azimuth and velocity estimation. We emphasize, however, that this improvement does not imply that the neural network outperforms the CRB itself. Rather, the enhanced performance is attributed to the biased nature of the neural network approach. Our findings underscore the potential of employing deep learning methods in radar systems to achieve more accurate localization in cluttered and dynamic environments.

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arXiv2024

Fisher Information Approach for Masking the Sensing Plan: Applications in Multifunction Radars

How to design a Markov Decision Process (MDP) based radar controller that makes small sacrifices in performance to mask its sensing plan from an adversary? The radar controller purposefully minimizes the Fisher information of its emissions so that an adversary cannot identify the controller's model parameters accurately. Unlike classical open loop statistical inference, where the Fisher information serves as a lower bound for the achievable covariance, this paper employs the Fisher information as a design constraint for a closed loop radar controller to mask its sensing plan. We analytically derive a closed-form expression for the determinant of the Fisher Information Matrix (FIM) pertaining to the parameters of the MDP-based controller. Subsequently, we constrain the MDP with respect to the determinant of the FIM. Numerical results show that the introduction of minor perturbations to the MDP's transition kernel and the total operation cost can reduce the Fisher Information of the emissions. Consequently, this reduction amplifies the variability in policy and transition kernel estimation errors, thwarting the adversary's accuracy in estimating the controller's sensing plan.

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arXiv2023

Subspace Perturbation Analysis for Data-Driven Radar Target Localization

Recent works exploring data-driven approaches to classical problems in adaptive radar have demonstrated promising results pertaining to the task of radar target localization. Via the use of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) techniques and convolutional neural networks, these data-driven approaches to target localization have helped benchmark the performance of neural networks for matched scenarios. However, the thorough bridging of these topics across mismatched scenarios still remains an open problem. As such, in this work, we augment our data-driven approach to radar target localization by performing a subspace perturbation analysis, which allows us to benchmark the localization accuracy of our proposed deep learning framework across mismatched scenarios. To evaluate this framework, we generate comprehensive datasets by randomly placing targets of variable strengths in mismatched constrained areas via RFView, a high-fidelity, site-specific modeling and simulation tool. For the radar returns from these constrained areas, we generate heatmap tensors in range, azimuth, and elevation using the normalized adaptive matched filter (NAMF) test statistic. We estimate target locations from these heatmap tensors using a convolutional neural network, and demonstrate that the predictive performance of our framework in the presence of mismatches can be predetermined.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2023

Radar Clutter Covariance Estimation: A Nonlinear Spectral Shrinkage Approach

In this paper, we exploit the spiked covariance structure of the clutter plus noise covariance matrix for radar signal processing. Using state-of-the-art techniques high dimensional statistics, we propose a nonlinear shrinkage-based rotation invariant spiked covariance matrix estimator. We state the convergence of the estimated spiked eigenvalues. We use a dataset generated from the high-fidelity, site-specific physics-based radar simulation software RFView to compare the proposed algorithm against the existing Rank Constrained Maximum Likelihood (RCML)-Expected Likelihood (EL) covariance estimation algorithm. We demonstrate that the computation time for the estimation by the proposed algorithm is less than the RCML-EL algorithm with identical Signal to Clutter plus Noise (SCNR) performance. We show that the proposed algorithm and the RCML-EL-based algorithm share the same optimization problem in high dimensions. We use Low-Rank Adaptive Normalized Matched Filter (LR-ANMF) detector to compute the detection probabilities for different false alarm probabilities over a range of target SNR. We present preliminary results which demonstrate the robustness of the detector against contaminating clutter discretes using the Challenge Dataset from RFView. Finally, we empirically show that the minimum variance distortionless beamformer (MVDR) error variance for the proposed algorithm is identical to the error variance resulting from the true covariance matrix.

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arXiv2022

Toward Data-Driven STAP Radar

Using an amalgamation of techniques from classical radar, computer vision, and deep learning, we characterize our ongoing data-driven approach to space-time adaptive processing (STAP) radar. We generate a rich example dataset of received radar signals by randomly placing targets of variable strengths in a predetermined region using RFView, a site-specific radio frequency modeling and simulation tool developed by ISL Inc. For each data sample within this region, we generate heatmap tensors in range, azimuth, and elevation of the output power of a minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) beamformer, which can be replaced with a desired test statistic. These heatmap tensors can be thought of as stacked images, and in an airborne scenario, the moving radar creates a sequence of these time-indexed image stacks, resembling a video. Our goal is to use these images and videos to detect targets and estimate their locations, a procedure reminiscent of computer vision algorithms for object detection$-$namely, the Faster Region-Based Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN). The Faster R-CNN consists of a proposal generating network for determining regions of interest (ROI), a regression network for positioning anchor boxes around targets, and an object classification algorithm; it is developed and optimized for natural images. Our ongoing research will develop analogous tools for heatmap images of radar data. In this regard, we will generate a large, representative adaptive radar signal processing database for training and testing, analogous in spirit to the COCO dataset for natural images. As a preliminary example, we present a regression network in this paper for estimating target locations to demonstrate the feasibility of and significant improvements provided by our data-driven approach.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2022

High Fidelity RF Clutter Modeling and Simulation

In this paper, we present a tutorial overview of state-of-the-art radio frequency (RF) clutter modeling and simulation (M&S) techniques. Traditional statistical approximation based methods will be reviewed followed by more accurate physics-based stochastic transfer function clutter models that facilitate site-specific simulations anywhere on earth. The various factors that go into the computation of these transfer functions will be presented, followed by several examples across multiple RF applications. Finally, we introduce a radar challenge dataset generated using these tools that can enable testing and benchmarking of all cognitive radar algorithms and techniques.

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arXiv2021

Adversarial Radar Inference: Inverse Tracking, Identifying Cognition and Designing Smart Interference

This paper considers three inter-related adversarial inference problems involving cognitive radars. We first discuss inverse tracking of the radar to estimate the adversary's estimate of us based on the radar's actions and calibrate the radar's sensing accuracy. Second, using revealed preference from microeconomics, we formulate a non-parametric test to identify if the cognitive radar is a constrained utility maximizer with signal processing constraints. We consider two radar functionalities, namely, beam allocation and waveform design, with respect to which the cognitive radar is assumed to maximize its utility and construct a set-valued estimator for the radar's utility function. Finally, we discuss how to engineer interference at the physical layer level to confuse the radar which forces it to change its transmit waveform. The levels of abstraction range from smart interference design based on Wiener filters (at the pulse/waveform level), inverse Kalman filters at the tracking level and revealed preferences for identifying utility maximization at the systems level.

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arXiv2019

Fusion of Deep Neural Networks for Activity Recognition: A Regular Vine Copula Based Approach

In this paper, we propose regular vine copula based fusion of multiple deep neural network classifiers for the problem of multi-sensor based human activity recognition. We take the cross-modal dependence into account by employing regular vine copulas that are extremely flexible and powerful graphical models to characterize complex dependence among multiple modalities. Multiple deep neural networks are used to extract high-level features from multi-sensing modalities, with each deep neural network processing the data collected from a single sensor. The extracted high-level features are then combined using a regular vine copula model. Numerical experiments are conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.

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arXiv2019

How to Calibrate your Adversary's Capabilities? Inverse Filtering for Counter-Autonomous Systems

We consider an adversarial Bayesian signal processing problem involving "us" and an "adversary". The adversary observes our state in noise; updates its posterior distribution of the state and then chooses an action based on this posterior. Given knowledge of "our" state and sequence of adversary's actions observed in noise, we consider three problems: (i) How can the adversary's posterior distribution be estimated? Estimating the posterior is an inverse filtering problem involving a random measure - we formulate and solve several versions of this problem in a Bayesian setting. (ii) How can the adversary's observation likelihood be estimated? This tells us how accurate the adversary's sensors are. We compute the maximum likelihood estimator for the adversary's observation likelihood given our measurements of the adversary's actions where the adversary's actions are in response to estimating our state. (iii) How can the state be chosen by us to minimize the covariance of the estimate of the adversary's observation likelihood? "Our" state can be viewed as a probe signal which causes the adversary to act; so choosing the optimal state sequence is an input design problem. The above questions are motivated by the design of counter-autonomous systems: given measurements of the actions of a sophisticated autonomous adversary, how can our counter-autonomous system estimate the underlying belief of the adversary, predict future actions and therefore guard against these actions.

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arXiv2019

Transmit MIMO Radar Beampattern Design Via Optimization on the Complex Circle Manifol

The ability of Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) radar systems to adapt waveforms across antennas allows flexibility in the transmit beampattern design. In cognitive radar, a popular cost function is to minimize the deviation against an idealized beampattern (which is arrived at with knowledge of the environment). The optimization of the transmit beampattern becomes particularly challenging in the presence of practical constraints on the transmit waveform. One of the hardest of such constraints is the non-convex constant modulus constraint, which has been the subject of much recent work. In a departure from most existing approaches, we develop a solution that involves direct optimization over the non-convex complex circle manifold. That is, we derive a new projection, descent, and retraction (PDR) update strategy that allows for monotonic cost function improvement while maintaining feasibility over the complex circle manifold (constant modulus set). For quadratic cost functions (as is the case with beampattern deviation), we provide analytical guarantees of monotonic cost function improvement along with proof of convergence to a local minima. We evaluate the proposed PDR algorithm against other candidate MIMO beampattern design methods and show that PDR can outperform competing wideband beampattern design methods while being computationally less expensive. Finally, orthogonality across antennas is incorporated in the PDR framework by adding a penalty term to the beampattern cost function. Enabled by orthogonal waveforms, robustness to target direction mismatch is also demonstrated.

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arXiv2019

Semiparametric CRB and Slepian-Bangs formulas for Complex Elliptically Symmetric Distributions

The main aim of this paper is to extend the semiparametric inference methodology, recently investigated for Real Elliptically Symmetric (RES) distributions, to Complex Elliptically Symmetric (CES) distributions. The generalization to the complex field is of fundamental importance in all practical applications that exploit the complex representation of the acquired data. Moreover, the CES distributions has been widely recognized as a valuable and general model to statistically describe the non-Gaussian behaviour of datasets originated from a wide variety of physical measurement processes. The paper is divided in two parts. In the first part, a closed form expression of the constrained Semiparametric Cramér-Rao Bound (CSCRB) for the joint estimation of complex mean vector and complex scatter matrix of a set of CES-distributed random vectors is obtained by exploiting the so-called \textit{Wirtinger} or $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{R}$-\textit{calculus}. The second part deals with the derivation of the semiparametric version of the Slepian-Bangs formula in the context of the CES model. Specifically, the proposed Semiparametric Slepian-Bangs (SSB) formula provides us with a useful and ready-to-use expression of the Semiparametric Fisher Information Matrix (SFIM) for the estimation of a parameter vector parametrizing the complex mean and the complex scatter matrix of a CES-distributed vector in the presence of unknown, nuisance, density generator. Furthermore, we show how to exploit the derived SSB formula to obtain the semiparametric counterpart of the Stochastic CRB for Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation under a random signal model assumption. Simulation results are also provided to clarify the theoretical findings and to demonstrate their usefulness in common array processing applications.

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arXiv2018

Spatio-Spectral Radar Beampattern Design for Co-existence with Wireless Communication Systems

We address the problem of designing a transmit beampattern for multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar considering co-existence with wireless communication systems. The designed beampattern is able to manage the transmit energy in spatial directions as well as in spectral frequency bands of interest by minimizing the deviation of the designed beampattern versus a desired one under a spectral constraint as well as the constant modulus constraint. While unconstrained beampattern design is straightforward, a key open challenge is jointly enforcing the spectral constraint in addition to the constant modulus constraint on the radar waveform. A new approach is proposed in our work, which involves solving a sequence of constrained quadratic programs such that constant modulus is achieved at convergence. Further, we show that each problem in the sequence has a closed form solution leading to analytical tractability. We evaluate the proposed beampattern with interference control (BIC) algorithm against the state-of-the-art MIMO beampattern design techniques and show that BIC achieves closeness to an idealized beampattern along with desired spectral shaping.

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