| The subject of this thesis is investigation of methods to reduce or compensate for target range glint in radar systems.;Any shift or movement in position of these individual glitter points can cause the apparent centroid range estimate to display fluctuations in amplitude (called target glitter) or fluctuations in range (called target range glint). The result of range glint can be a poor range estimate of the target and reduced target range track effectiveness.;Frequency diversity waveforms for High Range Resolution (HRR) can be used in pulse/range gated radar systems in an attempt to increase range measurement accuracy on distributed-range targets by resolving the individual target scatterers. Once target scatterer range information is known, the centroid (or apparent center) of the range can be estimated.;This approach examined and compared the relative merits of using frequency diversity HRR waveform methods of pulse compression and inter-pulse frequency agility, as compared to square pulse waveforms in reducing target range glint. Computer model simulations and supporting theory of these pulsed radar transmission waveforms, a specular point range-distributed target model, range profiled target scatterer signal returns, scatterer return weighting, and target range centroid range estimation were developed and presented here to compare the relative abilities of these candidate waveforms to minimize range glint. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).;A target, as viewed by a radar system, is generally composed of multiple of scatterers. Each of these scatterers (or "glitter points") reflect radar energy with its own amplitude, phase, and position. All scatterers falling inside of a radar's field-of-view are summed coherently to form a range profile. If the radar has insufficient range resolution to detect the scatterers separately, the scatterers are then summed coherently. This "appears" to the radar as a single scatterer target with an "apparent centroid" having a composite amplitude, phase, and position. |
