High-Latitude Particle Precipitation and its Relationship to Magnetospheric Source Regions

Two central issues in magnetospheric research are understanding the mapping of the low-altitude ionosphere to the distant regions of the magnetsphere, and understanding the relationship between the small-scale features detected in the various regions of the ionosphere and the global properties of the magnetosphere. The high-latitude ionosphere, through its magnetic connection to the outer magnetosphere, provides an important view of magnetospheric boundaries and the physical processes occurring there. All physical manifestations of this magnetic connectivity (waves, particle precipitation, etc.), however, have non-zero propagation times during which they are convected by the large-scale magnetospheric electric field, with phenomena undergoing different convection distances depending on their propagation times. Identification of the ionospheric signatures of magnetospheric regions and phenomena, therefore, can be difficult. Considerable progress has recently been made in identifying these convection signatures in data from low- and high-altitude satellites. This work has allowed us to learn much about issues such as: the rates of magnetic reconnection, both at the dayside magnetopause and in the magnetotail; particle transport across the open magnetopause; and particle acceleration at the magnetopause and the magnetotail current sheets.     

Reacting to new air defence threats: a netcentric approach to the Hungarian air defence system augmented by VHF radars

Different types of distributed radar systems and data fusion centers are increasingly used by surface-based air defense systems. Besides the well-established airborne threats, new platforms for air surveillance and attacking devices have appeared and recognized air picture (RAP) production needs to be revised and modified following the events of September 11, 2001. From a military operational and logistic support point of view, it is well-known that not only the long range radars currently in operation, but also the recently procured radars, degrade in performance rapidly and their maintenance costs are high. Using the possibilities offered by emerging technical developments, the problem is to upgrade sensors and existing infrastructure in a way that exploits the information gathered optimally. It is the opinion of this author that one of the most promising approaches to emphasis net-centricity is the use of radar-triangle netcentric structures augmented by netted VHF radars to solve these tasks in a cost-effective manner. This work introduces an analysis of a solution that fully integrates newly required capabilities into the current long range radar net and infrastructure, keeping research and development (R&D) and maintenance at a low cost.     

基于傅里叶变换的航迹对准关联算法

研究了在组网雷达存在系统误差情况下的目标航迹关联问题,理论分析了雷达系统误差对目标航迹的影响,并将该影响表示为目标航迹的旋转和平移量。在此基础上,提出了一种基于傅里叶变换的系统误差配准前航迹对准关联算法,该算法将组网雷达的航迹数据看做为一种整体信息,采用傅里叶变换理论来估计和补偿组网雷达目标航迹数据到融合中心航迹数据的相对旋转量和平移量,将雷达网中雷达上报的目标航迹数据对准到融合中心,从而不依赖于估计雷达网系统误差,实现了误差配准前的航迹准确关联,能够为后端的系统误差配准提供可靠的关联目标航迹数据。     

Medium PRF Performance Analysis

A discussion of various types of x-band airborne radars is presented together with their systematic development through the years to the present time. Starting with simple, low pulse-repetition frequency (PRF) radars for measuring radar-target range, airborne radar development proceeded with more sophisticated high PRF Doppler radars where radar-target range and range rate were measured simultaneously. The use of Doppler (frequency) in signal processing allowed the separation of moving from nonmoving targets (ground), enabling the detection of moving targets in the presence of ground clutter. More recent developments in waveform generation and selection has resulted in the development of medium PRF radars, whereby a greater degree of tactical flexibility in target detection is achieved by combining the desirable features of both low and high PRF radars. Part of the available literature gives an overview, together with a specific example of the design and performance of an airborne medium PRF radar. Here, however, the systematic evolution of these radars is emphasized and the necessary theoretical background is developed for their performance calculations. Modern day airborne radars may be equipped with all three modes of operation, low, medium, and high PRF, allowing the operator to utilize the mode best suited for the tactical encounter. Low PRF and high PRF radars have been described elsewhere and are given here primarily for the sake of completeness and for the necessary background for developing medium PRF radar equations. They are also needed for developing the reasons why medium PRF radars came into being.     

The Series 320 Radar: Three-Dimensional Air Surveillance for the 1980s

Air surveillance radars for this decade will be required to provide reliable target location and trajectory information in height as well as the conventional geographical coordinates. These threedimensional radars will perform this task in spite of adverse environmental conditions such as ground, airborne clutter, and electromagnetic interference. The use of powerful false-alarm control processing allows automatic target detection and remoting of target information without overloading central processing capabilities. The technological evolution of the past decade has allowed sophisticated analysis, antenna/receiver/transmitter design, and signal/data processing techniques to be applied to the next generation of practical production radar systems. These radars will meet more severe performance requirements and will be significantly improved in terms of reliability, maintainability, and life cycle cost considerations. A candidate radar to fulfill the air surveillance role of this decade is the Series 320 radar manufactured by ITT Gilfillan.     

VHF (metric band) radars from Nizhny Novgorod ResearchRadiotechnical Institute

This paper gives an overview of VHF (metric band) radars developed and manufactured in Nizhny Novgorod Research Radiotechnical Institute ¹ during 50 years of its existence. The salient features, technical performances, advantages and problems of those radars are discussed     

2D雷达组网中目标高度估计误差的Cramér-Rao限

 在由2坐标雷达组成的雷达网中,推导了目标高度估计误差的CRLB(Cram&;#225;r-Rao限),并通过不同条件下的数值计算得到了一些结论。结果表明,目标高度估计误差的CRLB既与雷达的测角误差有关,也与目标和2个雷达站形成的夹角有关系,雷达配置在不同的高度上有利于目标高度估计的收敛性。这些结论对于2坐标雷达组网以及雷达网中的传感器管理具有指导意义。     

基于网络化作战某型地空导弹抗击干扰目标布站优化分析

本文首先分析了单基网和双基网状态下网络化作战系统的干扰跟踪区,进一步提出了干扰杀伤区和干扰发射区的概念和计算模型,最后给出了网络化作战系统抗干扰目标的布站优化方法.     

Polish radar technology

Polish radar research and development since 1953 is reviewed, covering the development and production of surveillance radars, height finders, tracking radars, air traffic control (ATC) radars and systems, and marine and Doppler radars. Some current work, including an L-band ATC radar for enroute control, a weather channel for primary surveillance radar, signal detection in non-Gaussian clutter, adaptive MTI filters and postdetection filtering, and a basic approach to radar polarimetry, is examined.<>     

Some Observational Evidence of Alfven Surface Waves Induced Magnetic Reconnection

The surface wave induced magnetic reconnection (SWIMR) model based on Alfven Resonance theory will be discussed briefly both for collisional and collisionless plasmas. It is shown that the spatial scales and time delays associated with Flux Transfer Events and Pulsed Ionospheric Flows, as observed by satellites and SuperDARN radars and the magnetic bubbles, observed at the high latitude boundary of the magnetopause, can be explained by the SWIMR model. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Ionosphere-magnetosphere coupling

The large-scale electrical coupling between the ionosphere and magnetosphere is reviewed, particularly with respect to behavior on time scales of hours or more. The following circuit elements are included: (1) the magnetopause boundary layer, which serves as the generator for the magnetospheric-convection circuit; (2) magnetic field lines, usually good conductors but sometimes subject to anomalous resistivity; (3) the ionosphere, which can conduct current across magnetic field lines; (4) the magnetospheric particle distributions, including tail current and partial-ring currents. Magnetic merging and a viscous interaction are considered as possible generating mechanisms, but merging seems the most likely alternative. Several mechanisms have been proposed for causing large potential drops along magnetic field lines in the upper ionosphere, and many isolated measurements of parallel electric fields have been reported, but the global pattern and significance of these electric fields are unknown. Ionospheric conductivities are now thoroughly measured, but are highly variable. Simple self-consistent theoretical models of the magnetospheric-convection system imply that the magnetospheric particles should shield the inner magnetosphere and low-latitude ionosphere from most of the time-average convection electric field.     

Radar: the evolution since World War II

Modern radar design has benefited from the evolution of specialized digital processing, allowing high resolution ground mapping, target identification, and target tracking under many conditions. Air-to-air interception makes use of complex decision processes to select from many modes that depend on the clutter backgrounds and flight profiles. Today's multimode radars provide this information for each task while minimizing distractions. Fire control radars support a wide selection of weapons, including cannons and guided missiles. This is possible because of advanced digital processing. In the interval since WW II, radar design evolved from vacuum tubes to semiconductors and then to massively integrated circuits. Computers specialized for fast Fourier transforms (FFTs) have revolutionized radar data processing. System reliability has improved from a few hours to hundreds of hours. Effective built-in test informs ground maintenance personnel of problems for easy maintenance and low failure rates reduce or eliminate field maintenance benches at forward locations. Airborne surveillance radars, such as AW ACS Joint Stars have changed the nature of warfare. Commanders have virtually full view of enemy and friendly forces. Radars, in combination with other remote sensors, provide precise weapon delivery, reducing collateral damage and making all weapons more effective     

Spectrum management: a high stakes game

The optimal use of the frequency spectrum is an incredibly difficult but vital requirement to be achieved. Among the numerous services and applications which are requesting more frequencies, radar and telecommunications are certainly the most demanding. The purpose of this paper is to discuss several technical aspects contributing to the frequency management within the whole spectrum. To this effect it is proposed to analyse the following main aspects: first, a survey of the foreseeable evolution of telecommunications and radars mainly in terms of frequency band needs, radiated power density and waveforms; second, we will provide a comparative analysis of signals used in radars and telecommunications; finally, we propose a few necessary conditions to coordinate the operation of radars and telecommunications within the whole spectrum     

Radar target classification of commercial aircraft

With the increased availability of coherent wideband radars there has been a renewed interest in radar target recognition. A large bandwidth gives high resolution in range which means target discrimination may be possible. Coherence makes cross-range resolution and radar images possible. Some of the problems of classifying high resolution range profiles (HRRPs) are examined and simple preprocessing techniques which may aid subsequent target classification are investigated. These techniques are applied to HRRP data acquired at a local airport using the Microwave Radar Division (MRD) mobile radar facility It is found that Boeing 727 and Boeing 737 aircraft can be reliably distinguished over a range of aspect angles. This augers well for future target classification studies using HRRPs     

Electric fields in the ionosphere and magnetosphere

In this paper we review low altitude observations of the high latitude convection electric field as obtained with a variety of instruments including polar orbiting spacecraft, barium, incoherent and coherent scatter radars, and ground-based magnetometers. There still appears to be some contradiction in the observations particularly with regard to plasma flow into and out of the polar cap. Also, there does not appear to be any simple relationship between the sign of B _y and the local time location of the throat region. Rather, under active conditions, it appears that the plasma entry and exit regions rotate towards earlier times and there is a significant component of dawn-dusk flow across the polar cap. Superimposed on this may be some B _y-dependence of the plasma entry region.     

Monopulse Radars Excited by Gaussian Signals

This paper presents the theoretical probability densities of the outputs of both an amplitude-comparison monopulse radar and a phase-comparison monopulse radar when the monopulse radars are excited by Gaussian signals plus Gaussian noises. These probability densities are useful for studying the responses of monopulse radars to noise excitations. For example: Noise excitations arise when the monopulse radars are ?viewing? a noise source or a radar target consisting of randomly moving scatterers. The probability densities also serve as useful approximations for characterizing the outputs of monopulse radars when sinusoidal signals plus Gaussian noises excite the monopulse radars. Some special cases of the probability densities are presented in graphs.     

Nostradamus: An OTH Radar

ONERA, funded by the French Ministry of Defence has conducted the realization and experimentations of the Doppler Skywave OTH radar called NOSTRADAMUS. One of the main characteristics of Skywave OTH radar is the dependence to the ionosphere for successful operation. The use of the HF band allows Skywave OTH radar to bounce radio waves from the ionosphere, receiving tiny signals back from reflecting surfaces as the sea, islands, ships and aircraft. The knowledge of the behavior of the ionosphere in a real time configuration is of primary importance because it influences on the choice of frequencies. Radars systems require developing a real-time frequency management system (FMS) using prediction program or measurements supplied by vertical or oblique sounders. The French OTH radar concept has been developed and implemented so that the radar could be completely autonomous with respect to others "ionospheric information providers." This paper presents the NOSTRADAMUS system, the frequency management system, and shows some results obtained during the past years     

从干扰地对空雷达到干扰空对地雷达效果的等效推算

通过建立干扰条件下地对空雷达上视工作和空对地雷达下视工作的数学模型,结合在发现概率和虚警概率给定情况下检测因子为定值的雷达检测理论,推导出了从干扰机干扰地对空雷达时的干扰效果等效外推到干扰空对地雷达的干扰效果的推理模型。该模型具有外场可操作性。     

基于高度分集的两波束米波雷达测高方法及其应用

米波雷达的波束较宽、由于地面反射引起波瓣分裂,通常只能估高而不能用来测高.针对这一难题本文提出一种基于高度分集的两波束米波雷达测高方法.该方法采用高度不同的两个天线,利用波瓣分裂情况及相互相位关系来测量目标高度.文章分析了此方法测高的精度及影响精度的一些因素.本测高方法已应用于某型雷达信号处理机中,并取得良好效果.