Simple motion models for complex motion environments are often not adequate for keeping radar data coherent. Eve n perfect motion samples appli ed to imperfect models may lead to interim calculations e xhibiting errors that lead to degraded processing results. Herein we discuss a specific i ssue involving calculating motion for groups of pulses, with measurements only available at pulse-group boundaries. - 4 - Acknowledgements This report was funded by General A tomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) Mission Systems under Cooperative Re search and Development Agre ement (CRADA) SC08/01749 between Sandia National Laboratories and GA-ASI. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI), an affilia te of privately-held General Atomics, is a leading manufacturer of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA) systems, radars, and electro-optic and rel ated mission systems, includin g the Predator(r)/Gray Eagle(r)-series and Lynx(r) Multi-mode Radar.
Window taper functions of finite apertures are well-known to control undesirable sidelobes, albeit with performance trades. A plethora of various taper functions have been developed over the years to achieve various optimizations. We herein catalog a number of window functions, and com pare principal characteristics.
We desire a metric with which to evaluate the "goodness" of various image compression schemes in recreating an original Synthetic Aperture Radar image. Herein we propose a "coherence" measure that results in a single quality number for such an evaluation.
Spurious energy in received radar data is unanticipated and undesired signal relevant to radar target signatures, usually a consequence of nonideal component and circuit behavior, perhaps due to I/Q imbalance, nonlinear component behavior, additive interference (e.g. cross-talk, etc.), or other sources. The manifestation of the spurious energy in a range-Doppler map or image can often be influenced by appropriate pulse-to-pulse phase modulation. Comparing multiple images having been processed with the same data but different signal paths and modulations allows identifying undesired spurs and then cropping or apodizing them.
It is often advantageous to modify, or warp, radar waveforms, particularly with respect to group-delay and spectral dilation. These warping adjustments may facilitate real-time motion compensation of waveforms in radar systems, especially when those waveforms are generated by a digital parametric waveform generator. Relevant waveforms to this paper include Frequency Modulated (FM) waveforms, such as the Linear-FM (LFM) chirp, Non-Linear FM (NLFM) chirp, and other general FM waveforms. We present techniques for making fine adjustments to dynamically warp general FM waveforms.
Antenna apertures are often parsed into subapertures for Direction of Arrival (DOA) measurements. However, when the overall aperture is tapered for sidelobe control, the locations of phase centers for the individual subapertures are shifted due to the local taper of individual subapertures. Furthermore, individual subaperture gains are also affected. These non-uniform perturbations complicate DOA calculations. Techniques are presented to calculate subaperture phase center locations, and algorithms are given for equalizing subapertures' gains.
A sensor/payload operator for modern multi-sensor multi-mode Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms is often confronted with a plethora of options in sensors and sensor modes. This often leads an over-worked operator to down-select to favorite sensors and modes; for example a justifiably favorite Full Motion Video (FMV) sensor at the expense of radar modes, even if radar modes can offer unique and advantageous information. At best, sensors might be used in a serial monogamous fashion with some cross-cueing. The challenge is then to increase the utilization of the radar modes in a manner attractive to the sensor/payload operator. We propose that this is best accomplished by combining sensor modes and displays into 'super-modes'.
Antenna apertures that are tapered for sidelobe control can also be parsed into subapertures for Direction of Arrival (DOA) measurements. However, the aperture tapering complicates phase center location for the subapertures, knowledge of which is critical for proper DOA calculation. In addition, tapering affects subaperture gains, making gain dependent on subaperture position. Techniques are presented to calculate subaperture phase center locations, and algorithms are given for equalizing subapertures’ gains. Sidelobe characteristics and mitigation are also discussed.
Conventional beam-shaping for array antennas is accomplished via an amplitude-taper on the elemental radiators. It is well known that proper manipulation of the elemental phases can also shape the antenna far-field pattern. A fairly simple transformation from a desired amplitude-taper to a phase-taper can yield nearly equivalent results.
Typically, when three or more antenna beams along a single axis are required, the answer has been multiple antenna phase-centers, essentially a phase-monopulse system. Such systems and their design parameters are well-reported in the literature. Less appreciated is that three or more antenna beams can also be generated in an amplitude-monopulse fashion. Consequently, design guidelines and performance analysis of such antennas is somewhat under-reported in the literature. We provide discussion herein of three beams arrayed in a single axis with an amplitude-monopulse configuration. Acknowledgements The preparation of this report is the result of an unfunded research and development activity. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administ ration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.
Technological and doctrinal surprise is about rendering preparations for conflict as irrelevant or ineffective . For a sensor, this means essentially rendering the sensor as irrelevant or ineffective in its ability to help determine truth. Recovery from this sort of surprise is facilitated by flexibility in our own technology and doctrine. For a sensor, this mean s flexibility in its architecture, design, tactics, and the designing organizations ' processes. - 4 - Acknowledgements This report is the result of a n unfunded research and development activity . Sandia National Laboratories is a multi - program laboratory manage d and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE - AC04 - 94AL85000.
High-performance radar operation, particularly Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) radar modes, are very sensitive to anomalous effects of system nonlinearities. System nonlinearities generate harmonic spurs that at best degrade, and at worst generate false target detections. One significant source of nonlinear behavior is the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). One measure of its undesired nonlinearity is its Integral Nonlinearity (INL) specification. We examine in this paper the relationship of INL to radar performance; in particular its manifestation in a range-Doppler map or image.
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) measures radar soundings from a set of locations typically along the flight path of a radar platform vehicle. Optimal focusing requires precise knowledge of the sounding source locations in 3-D space with respect to the target scene. Even data driven focusing techniques (i.e. autofocus) requires some degree of initial fidelity in the measurements of the motion of the radar. These requirements may be quite stringent especially for fine resolution, long ranges, and low velocities. The principal instrument for measuring motion is typically an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), but these instruments have inherent limi ted precision and accuracy. The question is %22How good does an IMU need to be for a SAR across its performance space?%22 This report analytically relates IMU specifications to parametric requirements for SAR. - 4 - Acknowledgements Th e preparation of this report is the result of a n unfunded research and development activity . Although this report is an independent effort, it draws heavily from limited - release documentation generated under a CRADA with General Atomics - Aeronautical System, Inc. (GA - ASI), and under the Joint DoD/DOE Munitions Program Memorandum of Understanding. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi - program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of En ergy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract AC04-94AL85000.
The trend in high-performance ground-surveillance radar systems is towards employing multiple receiver channels of data. Often, key to performance is the ability to achieve and maintain balance between the radar channels. This can be quite problematic for high-performance radar modes. It is shown that commutation of radar receiver channels can be employed to facilitate channel balancing. Commutation is the switching, trading, toggling, or multiplexing of the channels between signal paths. Commutation allows modulating the imbalance energy away from the balanced energy in Doppler, where it can be mitigated with filtering.
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.
Direction of Arrival (DOA) measurements, as with a monopulse antenna, can be compared against Doppler measurements in a Synthetic Aperture Radar ( SAR ) image to determine an aircraft's forward velocity as well as its crab angle, to assist the aircraft's navigation as well as improving high - performance SAR image formation and spatial calibration.
In modern multi - sensor multi - mode Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance ( ISR ) platforms, the plethora of options available to a sensor/payload operator are quite large, leading to an over - worked operator often down - selecting to favorite sensors an d modes. For example, Full Motion Video (FMV) is justifiably a favorite sensor at the expense of radar modes, even if radar modes can offer unique and advantageous information. The challenge is then to increase the utilization of the radar modes in a man ner attractive to the sensor/payload operator. We propose that this is best accomplished by combining sensor modes and displays into 'super - modes'. - 4 - Acknowledgements This report is the result of a n unfunded research and development activity . Sandia Natio nal Laboratories is a multi - program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE - AC04 - 94AL850 00.
Wideband radar systems, especially those that operate at lower frequencies such as VHF and UHF, are often restricted from transmitting within or across specific frequency bands in order to prevent interference to other spectrum users. Herein we describe techniques for notching the transmitted spectrum of a generated and transmitted radar waveform. The notches are fully programmable as to their location, and techniques are given that control the characteristics of the notches.
Radar operation, particularly Ground Moving Target Indicator (GMTI) radar modes, are very sensitive to anomalous effects of system nonlinearities. These throw off harmonic spurs that are sometimes detected as false alarms. One significant source of nonlinear behavior is the Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). One measure of its undesired nonlinearity is its Integral Nonlinearity (INL) specification. We examine in this report the relationship of INL to GMTI performance.
Median filtering reduces speckle in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery while preserving edges, at the expense of coarsening the resolution, by replacing the center pixel of a sliding window by the median value. For shadow detection, this approach helps distinguish shadows from clutter more easily, while preserving shadow shape delineations. However, the nonlinear operation alters the shadow and clutter distributions and statistics, which must be taken into consideration when computing probability of detection and false alarm metrics. Depending on system parameters, median filtering can improve probability of detection and false alarm by orders of magnitude. Herein, we examine shadow probability of detection and false alarm in a homogeneous, ideal clutter background after median filter post-processing. Some comments on multi-look processing effects with and without median filtering are also made.