Reshaping the Boundaries of Radar Processing: A Study on the Development of Beyond-Linear Processing Techniques

Conventional radar signal processing has long adhered to a linear paradigm, resulting in severe performance degradation in environments characterized by heterogeneous clutter, strong interference, and non-Gaussian noise. Moreover, it struggles to reconcile the conflicting demands of platform miniaturization and enhanced detection performance. In 2022, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the "Beyond Linear Processing" (BLiP) program. Leveraging the exponential growth in computing power, the program aims to fundamentally overturn the linear‑processing-dominated radar signal processing framework, achieving a paradigm shift of "trading computing power for performance." The background requirements and research objectives of the BLiP program are systematically reviewed in this paper, its 1+4 technology architecture is deeply analyzed, and the research achievements in end-to-end containerized processing architecture, four major categories of beyond-linear core algorithms, and a fully digital phased array testbed are elaborated on. When anti‑hypersonic target detection is used as a representative scenario, the generational performance advantages of beyond-linear processing technology in extreme threat environments are demonstrated. Finally, the insights gained from the development of this technology are summarized by the paper, and an outlook on future research directions is provided.