Patent ID: 8022863

Claim:
A method for filtering waveforms with a spatially variant apodization (SVA) filter, comprising: correlating in a computer process, a plurality of samples of a sampled waveform into a correlation domain to provide a plurality of pulse-compressed samples, a first subset of the plurality of pulse-compressed samples defining a mainlobe and a second subset of the pulse-compressed samples defining a plurality of sidelobes; calculating a weight for at least one of the plurality of pulse-compressed samples in a computer process; and selecting in a computer process, one of a plurality of SVA filter values to apply to the at least one of the plurality of pulse-compressed samples based on the calculated weight of the at least one pulse-compressed sample, the SVA filter values comprising: one, if the calculated weight for the at least one pulse-compressed sample is less than zero, one minus a quotient of one-half divided by the calculated weight of the at least one pulse-compressed sample, if the calculated weight of the at least one pulse-compressed sample is greater than one-half, or a scale factor having a value greater than zero and less than or equal to one, if the calculated weight of the at least one pulse-compressed sample is greater than or equal to zero and less than or equal to one-half; and applying the selected SVA filter value to the at least one pulse-compressed sample in a computer process.