In this paper the acquisition of a low observable (LO) incoming tactical ballistic missile using the measurements from a surface based electronically scanned array (ESA) radar is presented. We present a batch maximum likelihood (ML) estimator to acquire the missile while it is exo-atmospheric. The proposed estimator, which combines ML estimation with the probabilistic data association (PDA) approach resulting in the ML-PDA algorithm to handle false alarms, also uses target features. The use of features facilitates target acquisition under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. Typically, ESA radars operate at 13-20 dB, whereas the new estimator is shown to be effective even at 4 dB SNR (in a resolution cell, at the end of the signal processing chain) for a Swerling III fluctuating target, which represents a significant counter-stealth capability. That is, this algorithm acts as an effective "power multiplier" for the radar by about an order of magnitude. An approximate Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB), quantifying the attainable estimation accuracies and shown to be met by the proposed estimator, is derived as well.
Radar power multiplier for acquisition of low observables using an ESA radar
IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems ; 37 , 2 ; 401-418
2001-04-01
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Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
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