Bearings Only Air-to-Air Ranging
Abstract
Passive infrared search and track (IRST) devices do not provide immediate estimates of a target's location, range and velocity. Rather, information on the target the form of collections of bearings of the target relative to the observer, who himself is in motion. Target parameters, such as location and velocity, are then derived as functions of the bearings. This report presents results of a study of the performance of various air-to-air passive ranging techniques. Attention is concentrated on the cases of a fixed target and a constant velocity target. Range estimation methods are investigated which are based on least squares fits using all observed bearings, least squares fits using azimuths only, and on minimal estimates using only a selected small number of bearings. Simulations are run to assess the performance of the various methods, with bearings taken at regular intervals and assumed independent Gaussian errors in azimuth and altitude measurements. Keywords: Air to Air ranging, Passive ranging, Range estimation, Target bearings, Infrared detection, Minimal estimators.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 25, 1988
- Accession Number
- ADA198785
Entities
People
- Joseph V. Michalowicz
- Robert Rubin
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory