Large Coherent Arrays for Laser Radars. Phase 1
Abstract
A bistatic laser radar with a large-sparse, phased array, receive aperture has been previously proposed for various critical strategic defense applications such as discrimination, target tracking, pointing, and fire control. The same concept could also be applied to the difficult problem of theater missile defense (TMD) using an airborne platform (above any cloud cover) . The basic problem is to ensure that the outputs of the receive subapertures are coherently combined in order to obtain the desired phased array performance. The general approach previously taken relaxes the tolerances on the locations of array elements and tries to compensate for the resulting phase errors adaptively, by phase conjugating returns from a 'phase-up' source of opportunity found within the target area. We recognized this procedure as the simplest among the class of 'self-cohering' techniques that Interspec has developed in the past decade for the purpose of obtaining diffraction-limited performance from distorted apertures for radar applications. In this effort, we adapted and applied a powerful self-cohering technique to this problem.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Nov 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA245528
Entities
People
- E. H. Attia