On the Use of X-Band CW Nanosecond Airborne Radar for Terrain Profiling.
Abstract
Terrain profile sensed by a 10 GHz X-band airborne nanosecond radar has been compared against the terrain profile sensed simultaneousl by a pulse laser profilometer. Several facts can be observed from a series of inter-comparisons between these two profiles. First, under the condition of comparable sampling intervals, the terrain profile sensed by radar is almost the same as that sensed by the laser profilometer except radar sensed profile does not contain information of narrow and tall objects above the ground surface. Second, a radar range resolution finer than 4 nanoseconds and a better algorithm on return waveform analysis for identifying narrow and tall objects in addition to the ground surface are going to improve accuracy and precision of radar's capability in terrain profiling. Third, for a short flight track, the removal of the effects on radar range measurements due to aircraft motion can not be achieved with knowing three ground surface elevations whose locations are well separated along the flight track. Last, the limit at which radar range tracking circuitry loses its lock and, thus, its ability in resolving ranging is higher for aftside range slopes than for foreside range slopes. Originator-supplied keywords include: Radar range gate, Radar return waveform analysis, Aircraft motion, High pass filter.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 25, 1985
- Accession Number
- ADA156886
Entities
People
- D. T. Chen
- E. A. Uliana
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory