A radar system and method include a sparse array receive element and a processing device. The system performs a beamforming operation on a received radar signal to generate a beamforming spectrum, which contains superposed impulse responses with relative power and angle. The processing device executes an iterative detection routine, starting with a first stage detection that compares the beamforming spectrum to an active power threshold and identifies tentative detection points. In the second stage detection, the processing device determines a certain detection point with the greatest relative power and updates the active power threshold for subsequent iterations of the detection routine. The update involves centering the impulse response related to the certain detection point around its angle, multiplying the relative power by the impulse response, and summing the product with the active power threshold. This process continues until a final set of detection points is obtained.