Effect of earth?s rotation and range foldover on space-based radar performance

Space-based radar (SBR) by virtue of its motion generates a Doppler frequency component to the clutter return from any point on the Earth as a function of the SBR-Earth geometry. The effect of the rotation of the Earth around its own axis also adds an additional component to this Doppler frequency. The overall effect of the rotation of the Earth on the Doppler turns out to be two correction factors in terms of a crab angle affecting the azimuth angle, and a crab magnitude scaling the Doppler magnitude of the clutter patch. Interestingly, both these quantities depend only on the SBR orbit inclination and its latitude and not on the location of the clutter patch of interest. Further, the crab angle has maximum effect for an SBR on a polar orbit that is above the equator. The crab magnitude, on the other hand, peaks for an SBR on an equatorial orbit. Together with the range foldover phenomenon, their overall effect is to generate Doppler spread/splitting resulting in wider clutter notches that degrade the clutter nulling performance of adaptive processing techniques. A detailed performance analysis and methods to minimize these effects are discussed here     

Monopulse Radar Air-ti-Ground Ranging

The use of a two-lobe monopulse radar for measuring slant range to the surface of the earth in the absence of discrete targets is analyzed. It is shown that tracking dispersion can be considered as the resultant of two components. One component is independent of range and results from the finite pulse length and gate length and the random nature of the return signals. The other component is due to receiver noise and increases as the signal-to-noise ratio decreases. The dispersion component independent of range is shown to be proportional to the pulse length and tracking gate length. The variable dispersion is shown to be proportional to the five halves power of the range and the three halves power of the cotangent of the depression angle of the antenna boresight axis. Performance calculations for a specific radar are carried out and compared with experimental data.     

Ground Compatibility Tests for Gravity Measurement of SELENE: Accuracies of Two- and Four-Way Doppler and Range Measurements

The Japanese lunar mission Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE) was launched in September 2007 and continued its mission until June 2009, when the main orbiter impacted with the surface of the Moon. SELENE consisted of three satellites: Main, Rstar, and Vstar. Rstar’s tasks were to forward up-link signals from the Usuada Deep Space Center (UDSC) to Main, and to down-link returning signals from Main to UDSC. We refer to this tracking sub-system as a four-way Doppler measurement. In contrast, conventional tracking systems between Rstar and UDSC as well as between Main and ground stations are referred to as two-way Doppler and range measurements. Using Main and Rstar, we successfully observed the gravity field over the farside of the Moon. Because four-way Doppler measurements via a relay sub-satellite were a fundamental experiment in space for Japanese space agencies, compatibility of radiometric instruments onboard Main and Rstar to UDSC were carefully examined at the UDSC using components manufactured for flight models. These tests not only proved the feasibility of the four-way Doppler measurements but also provided biases and variations of the four-way Doppler and two-way Doppler and range measurements that were later taken into account during the processing of tracking data and the analysis of the lunar global gravity field.     

Target tracking using infrared measurements and laser illumination

A missile target tracker is designed using a filter/correlator (with adaptive target shape identification) based on forward-looking infrared (FLIR) sensor measurements to track the center-of-intensity of the hardbody/plume combination, and another filter using Doppler and/or speckle information in the return from a low-power laser illuminator to estimate the offset between the intensity centroid and the hardbody center-of-mass. The Doppler information is shown to yield smaller bias and error variance from the tracker than the speckle information. Performance of trackers based on just Doppler or both Doppler and speckle information from the laser return is portrayed as a function of important parameters in the tracking environment     

Pulse Doppler signature of a rotary-wing aircraft

Field measurements of a modified Sikorsky S-55 helicopter target were carried out to investigate rotary-wing aircraft Doppler radar signature phenomenology. The results of the data analysis with regard to classification and identification of the aircraft based on its signature are presented. It was found that using the Doppler radar return and appropriate feature extraction techniques, the helicopter's design features can be estimated. Target backscatter from the main rotor blades, tail rotor blades, or hub can be used for target detection, acquisition, and classification as a rotary-wing aircraft. The extraction of configuration and blade count features can further define the helicopter for identification     

Random Error in ARGOS and SARSAT Satellite Positioning Systems

ARGOS and SARSAT are two satellite Doppler navigation systems in which low cost ground beacons transmit bursts of stable frequency signals. The Doppler shifted signals received by the satellite provide the positions of the beacons. The positioning error is dominated by a random component, due mainly to the short-term frequency stability of the beacon oscillator. Theoretical analysis and explicit expressions of the random errors are given.     

X-Ray Spectroscopy of Galaxy Clusters: Beyond the CIE Modeling

X-ray spectra of galaxy clusters are dominated by the thermal emission from the hot intracluster medium. In some cases, besides the thermal component, spectral models require additional components associated, e.g., with resonant scattering and charge exchange. The latter produces mostly underluminous fine spectral features. Detection of the extra components therefore requires high spectral resolution. The upcoming X-ray missions will provide such high resolution, and will allow spectroscopic diagnostics of clusters beyond the current simple thermal modeling. A representative science case is resonant scattering, which produces spectral distortions of the emission lines from the dominant thermal component. Accounting for the resonant scattering is essential for accurate abundance and gas motion measurements of the ICM. The high resolution spectroscopy might also reveal/corroborate a number of new spectral components, including the excitation by non-thermal electrons, the deviation from ionization equilibrium, and charge exchange from surface of cold gas clouds in clusters. Apart from detecting new features, future high resolution spectroscopy will also enable a much better measurement of the thermal component. Accurate atomic database and appropriate modeling of the thermal spectrum are therefore needed for interpreting the data.     

Doppler visibility of coherent ultrawideband random noise radar systems

Random noise radar has recently been used in a variety of imaging and surveillance applications. These systems can be made phase coherent using the technique of heterodyne correlation. Phase coherence has been exploited to measure Doppler and thereby the velocity of moving targets. The Doppler visibility, i.e., the ability to extract Doppler information over the inherent clutter spectra, is constrained by system parameters, especially the phase noise generated by microwave components. Our paper proposes a new phase noise model for the heterodyne mixer as applicable for ultrawideband (UWB) random noise radar and for the local oscillator in the time domain. The Doppler spectra are simulated by including phase noise contamination effects and compared with our previous experimental results. A genetic algorithm (GA) optimization routine is applied to synthesize the effects of a variety of parameter combinations to derive a suitable empirical formula for estimating the Doppler visibility in dB. According to the phase noise analysis and the simulation results, the Doppler visibility of UWB random noise radar depends primarily on the following parameters: 1) the local oscillator (LO) drive level of the receiver heterodyne mixer, 2) the saturation current in the receiver heterodyne mixer, 3) the bandwidth of the transmit noise source, and 4) the target velocity. Other parameters such as the carrier frequency of the receiver LO and the loaded quality factor of the LO have a small effect over the range of applicability of the model and are therefore neglected in the model formulation. The Doppler visibility curves generated from this formula match the simulation results very well over the applicable parameter range within 1 dB. Our model may therefore be used to quickly estimate the Doppler visibility of random UWB noise radars for trade-off analysis     

Mm wavelengths complex Doppler analysis using dark field illumination

Experimental results that indicate that at least two fundamental modes of Doppler generation are present when a rotating steel cylinder is broadside illuminated by radar. Improvised bistatic measurements at 77GHz are discussed and second order Doppler effects studied. Complex Doppler returns, consisting of two or more Doppler contributions, are decomposed and studied using empirical methods. In particular, ground illumination techniques are used to study Doppler in the shadow region of a cylinder of circumference 81 wavelengths. It is concluded that the complex Doppler response from the spinning cylinder consists of both direct (first order) and delayed (second order) Doppler components. Further measurements are proposed to study the delayed Doppler effect further.     

Radar detection in clutter

Clutter is defined as any unwanted radar return. The presence of clutter in a range/Doppler cell complicates the detection of a target return signal in that cell. In order to quantify the effect of clutter on the probability of detection, we must first specify sets of models suitable for representing the clutter and target. The simplest and most common model for clutter is based on the gamma density. We include two additional models, the NCG and NCGG clutter models for low grazing angles. They are motivated by physical arguments, the latter of which can accommodate the well-known phenomenon of speckle. Using one of these models for clutter together with one of several models for targets, we determine, in a range/Doppler cell, expressions for probabilities of detection of a target in the presence of clutter. It is important to control the probability of false alarms. The presence of clutter in a cell necessitates an increase in the detection threshold setting in order to control false alarms, thus lowering the probability of detection. If the clutter level is unknown, then we need to take measurements of the clutter and use it to adjust the threshold. The more clutter samples we take, the better the estimate of the clutter level and the less is the resulting detection loss. Using the expressions for the probability of detection in clutter, we can quantify the detection loss for a pair of commonly used constant false-alarm rate (CFAR) techniques and investigate how the loss varies with different parameter values, especially with regard to the number of clutter samples taken to estimate the clutter level.     

飞机钣金组件数字化装配误差分析

以飞机数字化制造装配为依托,通过对飞机钣金组件在模拟量协调路线和数字量协调路线下产生误差环节的比较,着重分析了飞机钣金组件在数字化装配过程中产生的系统误差和随机误差的因素和造成误差累积的原因。针对减小在钣金零件制造路线、钣金组件装配路线、温度场变化、振动场变化、应力变化等环节的累积误差提出了改进措施。     

Doppler measurements of smooth and rough surface high frequency scattering from spinning steel cylinders

Preliminary measurement results gathered using a fully coherent 77GHz phase coded pulse Doppler polarimetric radar and investigating the electromagnetic signatures of electrically large spinning steel cylinders are presented. New and novel results showing the Doppler contributions due to dynamic rough and smooth surface scattering effects are discussed and analysed. In the latter case, significant sideband conversion occurs together with a rapid fall off in the power density spectrum. Future work is proposed and discussed. A fuller analysis of these preliminary results and further results was presented.     

Measurements of L-band inland-water surface-clutter Doppler spectra

Although radar surface-clutter reflectivities from terrain are generally much greater than those from water, strong Bragg resonances at low but non-zero Doppler frequencies in backscatter from small inland bodies of water might potentially cause false alarms for moving target indicator (MTI) or other Doppler signal-processing techniques designed for target detection in ground clutter. To provide data for investigating this concern, measurements of L-band radar backscatter were recorded from the surface of a small inland freshwater reservoir in central Massachusetts. These measurements were of unusually high system stability and spectral purity so as to provide up to 80 dB of available spectral dynamic range. Strong Bragg spikes occurred in the clutter Doppler spectra from the reservoir at low (3 to 4 Hz) but non-zero Doppler frequencies. This strong Bragg resonance was persistent in time and space throughout the measurements. Spectral results are presented for all four combinations of linear polarization. Comparison with tree clutter spectral results indicates that, when an occasional water body comes under surveillance at vertical polarization in otherwise generally forested terrain, water clutter spectral density is expected to exceed surrounding-terrain tree clutter spectral densities in the Bragg-offset Doppler vicinity by large amounts     

Radar observations of Mars

Radar observations in the past were used to investigate the astronomical properties of the planet and its reflectivity in radar frequencies. Because of the difficulties in signal detection and processing due to the low level of return signal, the data were published only in the form of Doppler spectrograms. In view of the increasing interest in Mars and the practicability of missions to Mars this paper uses the published data to evaluate the angular behavior of the radar backscattering characteristics of Mars; a required information for the design of radar equipment of spacecrafts. In addition, results of past observations are summarized, analyzed and discussed in terms of a general interpretation of the Martian surface. It is found that the generally accepted suggestion that Mars is a relatively smooth planet, smoother than the Moon, is confirmed by most of the results, but not all observations agree with this hypothesis. A surface model of relief and composition based on radar information in conjunction with other observations is reviewed. The processing methods of radar return signals are compared for a better understanding of the handling of the Doppler spectrogram, a form which is most widely used for the presentation of processed data.An extensive bibliography of available papers and reports relevant to radar observations and the surface and lower atmosphere of Mars is included. The literature is concerned mainly with post-Mariner IV experiment, the mission which changed considerably many conceptions of Mars.     

二维沟槽粗糙槽道内的湍流特性研究

采用激光多普勒测速技术对光滑和粗糙槽道湍流特性进行了实验研究。粗糙元为二维横向V型沟槽,沟槽深度为0.8mm,沟槽间距为6.4mm,对应的槽道半高度与沟槽深度比为12.5。基于中线时均速度和槽道半高度的流动雷诺数范围为2740～17400。实验测量了包括时均速度、湍流强度、雷诺切应力和速度脉动偏斜因子和平坦因子在内的湍流统计量,结果表明沟槽型粗糙度对湍流的影响不仅局限于边界层内区,而是延伸到整个边界层范围。粗糙壁面上的粗糙度函数随雷诺数的增大而增大,时均亏损速度也较光滑壁面高。沟槽抑制了内区的流向湍流强度,同时增大了外区的湍流强度。粗糙壁面上的雷诺切应力高于光滑壁面,且与湍流强度一样表现出对雷诺数的依赖性。尽管沟槽型粗糙度对流向平坦因子影响不大,但对流向偏斜因子有显著影响。     

随机振动响应下的组件结构布局优化设计

 从工程应用需求出发,研究了随机振动载荷作用下的组件结构布局优化问题。提出采用有限包络圆族描述组件外形轮廓的近似方法,有效解决了设计过程中预防组件干涉的问题;建立了随机振动响应分析有限元模型,并对模型进行了实验验证与结果分析。在此基础上,以随机振动载荷下特定点自由度响应均方根（RMS）值之和最小为目标函数建立了组件布局通用优化设计模型,研究了单一组件与4组件问题的布局优化问题,并分别采用梯度优化算法和遗传算法进行优化求解比较研究。结果表明,所提出的设计方法能够有效地实现随机振动响应下的组件结构布局优化设计,两种优化算法均能显著降低结构关键部位的动力学响应。     

Angle/Doppler estimation in heavy-tailed clutter backgrounds

This work describes new methods on the modeling of the amplitude statistics of airborne radar clutter by means of alpha-stable distributions. We develop joint target angle and Doppler, maximum likelihood-based estimation techniques from radar measurements retrieved in the presence of impulsive uncorrelated noise modeled as an alpha-stable random process. We derive the Cramer-Rao bounds (CRBs) for the additive Cauchy interference scenario to assess the best case estimation accuracy which can be achieved. In addition, we introduce a new joint spatial- and Doppler-frequency high-resolution estimation technique based on the fractional lower order statistics of the measurements of a radar array. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed methods can be of interest in the study of space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for airborne pulse Doppler radar arrays operating in impulsive interference environments     

粗糙集与神经网络在航空发动机气路故障诊断中的应用

提出了一种基于粗糙集理论和神经网络集成的发动机智能故障诊断方法,首先对测量数据进行离散处理,并运用粗糙集理论建立故障决策表,进而约简属性和提取规则,对航空发动机气路部件的几种典型故障进行隔离。然后建立神经网络故障诊断子系统,使用粗糙集处理后的数据计算出发动机气路相关部件的故障程度。最后,还验证了粗糙集神经网络故障诊断系统的抗噪性能。研究表明,该系统能够正确而且高效地诊断出发动机故障的严重程度,并具备良好的抑制噪声的能力。      

The Huygens Doppler Wind Experiment ' Titan Winds Derived from Probe Radio Frequency Measurements

A Doppler Wind Experiment (DWE) will be performed during the Titan atmospheric descent of the ESA Huygens Probe. The direction and strength of Titan's zonal winds will be determined with an accuracy better than 1 m s⁻¹ from the start of mission at an altitude of ∼160 km down to the surface. The Probe's wind-induced horizontal motion will be derived from the residual Doppler shift of its S-band radio link to the Cassini Orbiter, corrected for all known orbit and propagation effects. It is also planned to record the frequency of the Probe signal using large ground-based antennas, thereby providing an additional component of the horizontal drift. In addition to the winds, DWE will obtain valuable information on the rotation, parachute swing and atmospheric buffeting of the Huygens Probe, as well as its position and attitude after Titan touchdown. The DWE measurement strategy relies on experimenter-supplied Ultra-Stable Oscillators to generate the transmitted signal from the Probe and to extract the frequency of the received signal on the Orbiter. Results of the first in-flight checkout, as well as the DWE Doppler calibrations conducted with simulated Huygens signals uplinked from ground (Probe Relay Tests), are described. Ongoing efforts to measure and model Titan's winds using various Earth-based techniques are briefly reviewed. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.