Airborne Radar Motion Compensation Techniques -- Evaluation of DPCA
Abstract
Coherent signal processing in an airborne radar is highly dependent upon methods used to compensate for platform (e.g., airplane) motion. Platform motion causes returns to have doppler shifts which vary with the angle between the velocity vector of the platform and that of the target or scatterer. Because of the finite antenna beamwidth and the finite transmitted pulse length, radar returns from many scatterers are received simultaneously from different angles. Therefore, these returns combine to give a spectrum of doppler frequencies which must be corrected. Displaced Phase Center Antenna (DPCA) is a technique which compensates for the component of motion which is perpendicular to the axis of the beam. This report evaluates DPCA in terms of its improvement to airborne moving target indicator (MTI) performance. It is shown that MTI performance is improved significantly with DPCA. However, since DPCA does not completely compensate for this motion, MTI performance can be limited by this technique under certain conditions.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 20, 1972
- Accession Number
- AD0902605
Entities
People
- G. A. Andrews
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory