Optimal Cooperative Sensing using a Team of UAVs

The authors investigates the joint optimal estimation of both the position and velocity of a ground moving target (GMT) using pulse Doppler radars on-board unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The problem of cooperative estimation using a UAV team and the optimization of the team's configuration to achieve optimal GMT position and velocity estimates are addressed. Based on the Cramer-Rao bound, the minimum achievable error variance of the GMT position and velocity estimates is derived. The expression of the minimum achievable estimation error variance for unbiased estimation provided by the Cramer-Rao bound is minimized yielding the optimal configuration of the UAV team. Our solution is complete in that it addresses various GMT tracking scenarios and an arbitrary number of UAVs. Optimal sensor geometries for typical applications are illustrated     

Multiple-Target Monopulse Radar Processing Techniques

The problem of determining target parameters of a known number of radar targets falling in the same range-Doppler-angle-angle resolution cell is examined for the noise-free case. The required minimum number of radar beams is determined, based upon approximating the beam patterns by a Taylor series expansion, both for the general problem and for factorable beams. Signal processors for target position estimation are developed for the two-target case and equations are presented for the general case.     

ADS-B用于高精度雷达标定的方法

为了更好地解决高精度雷达标定的问题,提出了基于广播式自动相关监视系统(ADS-B)固定误差及目标回波中心动态修正的雷达标定新方法。首先分析了ADS-B位置数据误差的来源、类型及在雷达坐标系下的特征,同时对民航目标回波中心的变化作了分析建模,在此基础上进一步通过对雷达数据与ADS-B数据之差作动态联合修正,最终估算出雷达系统误差,提高了雷达系统误差标定的精度和稳定性。并利用多批次的实测数据对该标定新方法与其他方法进行了对比验证,结果表明,该方法有效提高了标定的精度和稳定性,并已成功应用于雷达标定设备中。     

Optimal measurement scheduling for state estimation

We consider the problem of optimal allocation of measurement resources, when: (1) the total measurement budget and time duration of measurements are fixed, and (2) the cost of an individual measurement varies inversely with the (controllable) measurement accuracy. The objective is to determine the time-distribution of measurement variances that minimizes a measure of error in estimating a discrete-time, vector stochastic process with known auto-correlation matrix using a linear estimator. The metric of estimation error is the trace of weighted sum of estimation error covariance matrices at various time indices. We show that this problem reduces to a nonlinear optimization problem with linear equality and inequality constraints. The solution to this problem is obtained via a variation of the projected Newton method. For the special case when the vector stochastic process is the state of a linear, finite-dimensional stochastic system, the problem reduces to the solution of a nonlinear optimal control problem. In this case, the gradient and Hessian with respect to the measurement costs are obtained via the solution of a two-point boundary value problem and the resulting optimization problem is solved via a variation of the projected Newton method. The proposed method is illustrated using four examples     

Moving target localization in distributed MIMO radar with transmitter and receiver location uncertainties

In this paper, the problem of moving target localization from Bistatic Range(BR) and Bistatic Range Rate(BRR) measurements in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output(MIMO) radar system having widely separated antennas is investigated. We consider a practically motivated scenario,where the accurate knowledge of transmitter and receiver locations is not known and only the nominal values are available for processing. With the transmitter and receiver location uncertainties,which are usually neglected in MIMO radar systems by prior studies, taken into account in the measurement model, we develop a novel algebraic solution to reduce the estimation error for moving target localization. The proposed algorithm is based on the pseudolinear set of equations and two-step weighted least squares estimation. The Cramer-Rao Lower Bound(CRLB) is derived in the presence of transmitter and receiver location uncertainties. Theoretical accuracy analysis demonstrates that the proposed solution attains the CRLB, and numerical examples show that the proposed solution achieves significant performance improvement over the existing algorithms.     

Optimum Signals for Radar

The research reported herein deals with the general problem of the selection of radar waveforms. The investigation is specifically concerned with the synthesis of radar signals which are optimum in the sense that they are characterized by ambiguity surfaces minimized over certain predetermined regions of the ambiguity plane. The weighted ambiguity surface is utilized as the weighted error criterion. This error criterion is mathematically tractable and pertinent to radar system performance but is not unduly restrictive as some orientation parameters are left unspecified for subsequent cost or penalty function analysis. The signal optimization is approached by variational techniques augmented by equality and inequality constraints, for example, limiting the amount of bandwidth or frequency modulation to be less than some system requirement. Several examples are presented demonstrating the optimization techniques and providing a minimum error for the stated problem. It is shown that for any given type of amplitude modulation of the radar signal, the variance or dispersion of the ambiguity surface is not decreased for any type of phase modulation added. The optimum signal for an elliptical weighting function is derived for several cases. The minimum error is shown to depend upon the constraints and the unspecified orientation parameters and, for one case, on the second moment of the signal.     

Orbital reference frame estimation with power spectral density constraints for drag-free satellites

The drag-free satellites are widely used in the field of fundamental science as they enable the high-precision measurement in pure gravity fields. This paper investigates the estimation of local orbital reference frame (LORF) for drag-free satellites. An approach, taking account of the combi-nation of the minimum estimation error and power spectral density (PSD) constraint in frequency domain, is proposed. Firstly, the relationship between eigenvalues of estimator and transfer func-tion is built to analyze the suppression and amplification effect on input signals and obtain the eigenvalue range. Secondly, an optimization model for state estimator design with minimum estima-tion error in time domain and PSD constraint in frequency domain is established. It is solved by the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithm. Finally, the orbital reference frame estimation of low-earth-orbit satellite is taken as an example, and the estimator of minimum variance with PSD constraint is designed and analyzed using the method proposed in this paper.     

A Quantitative Analysis of Sea Clutter Decorrelation with Frequency Agility

A brief statement of the sea clutter problem in surface-search radar operation illustrates the need for some form of signal-to-clutter enhancement. Post-detection integration used in the simpler radars is limited by the pulse-to-pulse correlation of the clutter. Analysis of the effect of changing frequency from pulse to pulse leads to an expression for the correlation between pulses in the sequence. Knowing this correlation, the reduction in the fluctuating clutter component produced by integration can be determined. This is described by an equivalent number of independent pulses, Nc. For the particular case of sinusoidal modulation of the transmitted frequency, N6 is computed. The critical dependecne of Nc upon the modulating frequency fm is illustrated by spectrum photographs. Choice of an optimum fm is discussed. The results of computations of N4 for optimum fm are presented as a family of normalized curves. These data permit the tradeoff of the radar parameters against their quantitative effect on radar performance.     

涡扇发动机变参数鲁棒H_∞滤波器设计

针对存在建模误差及测量噪声干扰条件下的涡扇发动机性能参数估计问题,标准卡尔曼滤波及其改进算法滤波估计误差收敛速度慢,滤波估计精度低,对不确定测量噪声及建模误差较为敏感,为此本文提出了一种变参数鲁棒H_∞滤波器设计方法。该方法采用仿射参数依赖Lyapunov函数设计满足H_∞性能指标要求的鲁棒滤波器,通过引入凸多胞技术,将参数依赖线性矩阵不等式(Linear Matrix Inequality,LMI)中变参数Lyapunov矩阵与系统系数矩阵之间耦合乘积导致的非凸优化问题,转化为常规LMI约束下的凸优化问题进行求解,降低了线性变参数(Linear Parameter Varying,LPV)鲁棒滤波器设计的保守性,得到了全局解。针对涡扇发动机的仿真结果表明:与扩展卡尔曼滤波器对比,采用该方法设计的滤波器具有较快的动态跟踪速度和较高的滤波精度,ΔFn的稳态估计误差不大于0.1%,ΔFn的相对估计误差不大于2.5%,同时对建模误差和测量噪声干扰具有较强的抑制能力。     

Synthetic Aperture Processing with Limited Storage and Presumming

The number of transmitted pulses associated with the Doppler histories of a side-looking radar may greatly exceed the desired azimuth compression ratio of the system. This discrepancy is taxing if the storage required for the azimuth processing is provided by cores, magnetic drums, and the like. Thus, as a practical matter, one considers presumming of the data prior to correlation in an attempt to achieve the desired performance with a minimum amount of digital storage. In this paper, the optimum (in terms of resolution) presummer is derived, along with the optimum apportionment of the available storage capacity between the presumming and correlation operations. Under the condition (or generally pessimistic approximation) that the illumination pattern of the antenna uniformly illuminates a Doppler bandwidth equal to the PRF of the radar, the optimum presumming coefficients are the first Np Fourier coefficients of a function which is one of the Doppler bandwidth to be correlated and zero on the remainder of the PRF bandwidth, where Np is the number of transmitted radar pulses over which presumming is provided. Increasing Np reduces the degradation due to presumming, but may leave inadequate storage for correlation. Hence, we optimize the apportionment between the two operations and present the obtainable resolution as a function of total storage and the number of transmitted pulses in the received Doppler history.     

Design of a practical tracking algorithm with radar measurements

The extended Kalman filter (EKF) has been widely used as a nonlinear filtering method for radar tracking problems. However, it has been found that if cross-range measurement errors of the target position are large, the performance of the conventional EKF degrades considerably due to nonnegligible nonlinear effects. A new filtering algorithm for improving the tracking performance with radar measurements is developed based on the fact that correct evaluation of the measurement error covariance is possible in the Cartesian coordinate system. The proposed algorithm may be viewed as a modification of the EKF in which the variance of the range measurement errors is evaluated in an adaptive manner. The filter structure facilitates the incorporation of the sequential measurement processing scheme, and this makes the resulting algorithm favorable to both estimation accuracy and computational efficiency. Computer simulation results show that the proposed method offers superior performance in comparison to previous methods. Moreover, our developed algorithm provides some useful insight into the radar tracking problem     

In-Flight Alignment and Calibration of Inertial Measurement Units?Part II: Experimental Results

This is the second part of a two-part paper which summarizes work pursued by the author in 1967 [2]. The paper describes the application of minimum-variance estimation techniques for in-flight alignment and calibration of an inertial measurement unit (IMU) relative to another IMU and/or some other reference. The first paper [1] formulates the problem, and this paper reports numerical results and analyses. The approach taken is to cast the problem into the framework of Kalman-Bucy estimation theory, where velocity and position differences between the two IMU's are used as observations and the IMU parameters of interest become part of the state vector. Instrument quantization and computer roundoff errors are considered as measurement noise, and environmental induced random accelerations are considered as state noise. In this paper, numerical results for three important IMU error parameter configurations are presented and discussed. The main results of the paper determine the effects of state and observation noise levels and the nominal trajectory on the identifications of the errors for these configurations. A discussion of the minimum number of trajectory maneuvers and of the optimal trajectory maneuvering is given.     

High-Resolution, Radar Coherent Linear FM Microwave Source

The microwave CLFM study was directed to generating 14 ?s S-band pulses of 1000 MHz bandwidth and an rms phase error of a few degrees. Over 972 MHz bandwidth, the sampled phase error relative to the reference was 7 degrees rms and 17 degrees peak, with a maximum Fourier component of 4 degrees. The FM pulse train is generated by a gated BWO driven by a stable linearizing waveform. Phase coherency during each pulse is obtained by a sampling technique, where the phase is corrected at intervals of 1/6 ?s, the RF phase having changed an integral number of cycles in each interval. Multiplication of the BWO signal by the sampling pulse train results in band-limited phase error pulses which are applied in a feedback loop. Pulse-to-pulse coherency is obtained by phase lock of the BWO starting frequency to the crystal reference. Feedback leveling holds the output constant to 0.3 dB. The basic MITRE technique was originally demonstrated at 10 MHz in 1964. Range results measured with the X-band model radar using the CLFM generator are given and confirm the phase errors of the CLFM.     

Design of Optimal Radar Signals Subject to a Fixed Amplitude Constraint

The problem of designing finite-pulse-train radar signals and receivers to maximize the detectability of targets masked by thermal noise and clutter returns is considered in this paper. A practical constraint is introduced: the amplitude of each subpulse in the transmit waveform is taken to be fixed. The need for such a constraint is dictated in most radar applications, because the transmitter is most efficiently utilized by saturating its amplifying tube. An algorithm for generating optimal waveforms subject to this new constraint is presented, and the performance of the resulting waveforms is compared with those obtained using existing optimization techniques.     

基于电流阈值的开关磁阻电机位置估计容错分析

在基于双电流阈值的位置估计基础上,提出了一种考虑电流传感器故障和估计误差补偿的位置估计容错技术。通过双电流阈值与脉冲电流峰值比较估计位置检索脉冲信号,利用开关磁阻电机相与相之间的独立性,利用正常相的电磁信息间接估计传感器故障相的转子位置信号。通过仿真计算得到转速对位置估计误差的影响,并提出了位置误差补偿措施。在一台12/8结构样机中进行了相关试验,试验结果表明,所提方法提高了无位置传感器技术的容错性,验证了该算法的正确性和可行性。     

Mitigating Range Ambiguity in High PRF Radar using Inter-Pulse Binary Coding

The paper proposes a way to increase the energy within a coherent processing interval (CPI) using more pulses instead of longer pulses. Long coded pulses result in masking targets at close range and poor Doppler tolerance. Increasing the number of pulses implies high pulse repetition frequency (PRF), which suffers from range ambiguity and target folding. These drawbacks of a high PRF can be mitigated by inter-pulse coding. The approach suggested here should be attractive for close and mid range applications of radar, ground penetrating radar, ultrasound imaging, and more.     

一种基于无线信号辅助的室内无死角定位算法

针对传统惯性导航系统定位误差随时间积累的问题,提出了一种基于无线信号辅助定位的室内无死角定位算法。该算法首先利用加速度计、陀螺仪、磁力计和气压计等传感器数据实现三维定位,然后利用无线信号对惯导定位中的位置偏差进行实时校正,再通过航向最优估计算法对航向误差进行修正,在位置和航向上增强惯导系统的实用性。利用实验室自主研发的微惯性测量单元固定在腰部脊椎位置进行实验验证,结果显示基于无线信号辅助的室内无死角定位算法精度达到1%以内,与纯惯导技术相比,能够提供更持久和准确的三维位置信息。     

基于SVD的R-T-S最优平滑在机载SAR运动补偿POS系统中的应用

 机载合成孔径雷达（SAR）运动补偿用位置姿态系统（POS）的导航精度直接影响SAR成像的效果。为进一步提高POS的导航精度和数值稳定性,提出将基于奇异值分解（SVD）的Rauch-Tung-Striebel（R-T-S）最优固定区间平滑应用于POS后处理中。在基于SVD的前向卡尔曼滤波（KF）的基础上,进行了基于SVD的后向R-T-S最优固定区间平滑,获得位置、速度和姿态的最优估计。该方法将原算法中均方误差阵进行奇异值分解,不仅具有很好的数值稳定性和鲁棒性,而且避免了矩阵的求逆。半物理仿真结果表明,该方法在导航精度和数据平滑度上明显优于目前工程中应用的KF,是一种有效的事后处理方法。     

Discrete-time min-max tracking

The problem of optimal state estimation of linear discrete-time systems with measured outputs that are corrupted by additive white noise is addressed. Such estimation is often encountered in problems of target tracking where the target dynamics is driven by finite energy signals, whereas the measurement noise is approximated by white noise. The relevant cost function for such tracking problems is the expected value of the standard H/sub /spl infin// performance index, with respect to the measurement noise statistics. The estimator, serving as a tracking filter, tries to minimize the mean-square estimation error, and the exogenous disturbance, which may represent the target maneuvers, tries to maximize this error while being penalized for its energy. The solution, which is obtained by completing the cost function to squares, is shown to satisfy also the matrix version of the maximum principle. The solution is derived in terms of two coupled Riccati difference equations from which the filter gains are derived. In the case where an infinite penalty is imposed on the energy of the exogenous disturbance, the celebrated discrete-time Kalman filter is recovered. A local iterations scheme which is based on linear matrix inequalities is proposed to solve these equations. An illustrative example is given where the velocity of a maneuvering target has to be estimated utilizing noisy measurements of the target position.