The Effect of Interfering Signals on the Performance of Angle of Arrival Estimates

The performance of angle of arrival estimates using an array in the presence of interfering signals is evaluated using the Cramer-Rao bound. To do this, a model for interference is developed which presents the interference as narrowband, temporally white, but spatially correlated, noise. The bound is evaluated and it is shown to depend upon the ambiguity function of the array and spatial correlation matrix of the noise plus interference. Motivation of the model in the context of air traffic control and sonar surveillance is presented.     

Effect of Observation Errors on Satellite Attitude Estimation

A study of the effect of observation errors on the best least squares estimate of satellite attitude based on two sets of direction measurements, where one set contains two independent measurements which are corrupted by zero-mean normally distributed additive errors, is summarized. Using Monte-Carlo techniques, the statistics of the estimated rotation of the satellite, from a known reference, were obtained. It was found that one of the parameterizations of the rotation, namely, the vector z, is best suited for estimation, since ?z is normally distributed with zero mean and its standard deviation is independent of the two direction measurements.     

Independent Research Planning and Implementation

Spending company money wisely is a challenging job. The management approach used for selecting, executing, and applying company research projects is presented. Goals for research expenditures are discussed, together with methods of defining projects. The important interface between Government organization and company engineering and marketing is given. Optimum means of organizing and controlling selected research projects are covered, including management redirection when required. Approaches for maximizing creativity are also presented. All information presented is from actual experience and procedures now in use.     

Noncoherent Detection of Split-Phase FSK by Multiple Predetection Filtering

When the cumulative drift in the center frequency of a binary split-phase FSK signal exceeds the peak deviation of the signal, a conventional noncoherent receiver (i.e., one provided with only two IF filters) may be unable to achieve the probability of error per bit which the designer desires. This limitation may be overcome if the receiver is provided with a bank of more than two contiguous filters (each followed by an envelope detector) tospan the total IF band the instantaneous IF signal might occupy. It is shown that the probability of error per bit for such a receiver is a function of 1) the ratio F of peak frequency deviation to peak frequency drift, 2) the number M of IF filter/detectors, and 3) the signal-to-noise ratio ? in the output of the filter containing the signal. It is further shown thatfor a given value of F an increase in M reduces the amount of transmitter power the communication system designer must provide to yield a given probability of error per bit.