Publications

Abstract not provided.

A radome, or radar dome, protects a radar system from exposure to the elements. Unfortunately, radomes can affect the radiation pattern of the enclosed antenna. The co-design of a platform"™s radome and radar is ideal to mitigate any deleterious effects of the radome. However, maintaining structural integrity and other platform flight requirements, particularly when integrating a new radar onto an existing platform, often limits radome electrical design choices. Radars that rely heavily on phase measurements such as monopulse, interferometric, or coherent change detection (CCD) systems require particular attention be paid to components, such as the radome, that might introduce loss and phase variations as a function of the antenna scan angle. Material properties, radome wall construction, overall dimensions, and shape characteristics of a radome can impact insertion loss and phase delay, antenna beamwidth and sidelobe level, polarization, and ultimately the impulse response of the radar, among other things, over the desired radar operating parameters. The precision-guided munitions literature has analyzed radome effects on monopulse systems for well over half a century. However, to the best of our knowledge, radome-induced errors on CCD performance have not been described. The impact of radome material and wall construction, shape, dimensions, and antenna characteristics on CCD is examined herein for select radar and radome examples using electromagnetic simulations.

The linear ground distance per unit time and ground area covered per unit time of producing synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, termed rate of advance (ROA) and area coverage rate (ACR), are important metrics for platform and radar performance in surveillance applications. These metrics depend on many parameters of a SAR system such as wavelength, aircraft velocity, resolution, antenna beamwidth, imaging mode, and geometry. Often the effects of these parameters on rate of advance and area coverage rate are non-linear. This report addresses the impact of different parameter spaces as they relate to rate of advance and area coverage rate performance.

Abstract not provided.

The Rapid Terrain Visualization interferometric synthetic aperture radar was designed and built at Sandia National Laboratories as part of an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) to "demonstrate the technologies and infrastructure to meet the Army requirement for rapid generation of digital topographic data to support emerging crisis or contingencies". This sensor is currently being operated by Sandia National Laboratories for the Joint Precision Strike Demonstration (JPSD) Project Office to provide highly accurate digital elevation models (DEMs) for military and civilian customers, both inside and outside of the United States. The sensor achieves better than DTED Level IV position accuracy in near real-time. The system is being flown on a deHavilland DHC-7 Army aircraft. This paper outlines some of the technologies used in the design of the system, discusses the performance, and will discuss operational issues. In addition, we will show results from recent flight tests, including high accuracy maps taken of the San Diego area.

The Rapid Terrain Visualization Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (RTV-ACTD) is designed to demonstrate the technologies and infrastructure to meet the Army requirement for rapid generation of digital topographic data to support emerging crisis or contingencies. The primary sensor for this mission is an interferometric synthetic aperture radar (IFSAR) designed at Sandia National Laboratories. This paper will outline the design of the system and its performance, and show some recent flight test results. The RTV IFSAR will meet DTED level III and IV specifications by using a multiple-baseline design and high-accuracy differential and carrier-phase GPS navigation. It includes innovative near-real-time DEM production on-board the aircraft. The system is being flown on a deHavilland DHC-7 Army aircraft.