Sensor Fusion for Boost Phase Interception of Ballistic Missiles

Abstract

In the boost phase interception of ballistic missiles, determining the exact position of a ballistic missile has a significant importance. Several sensors are used to detect and track the missile. These sensors differ from each other in many different aspects. The outputs of radars give range, elevation and azimuth information of the target while space based infrared sensors give elevation and azimuth information. These outputs have to be combined (fused) achieve better position information for the missile. The architecture that is used in this thesis is decision level fusion architecture. This thesis examines four algorithms to fuse the results of radar sensors and space based infrared sensors. An averaging technique, a weighted averaging technique, a Kalman filtering approach and a Bayesian technique are compared. The ballistic missile boost phase segment and the sensors are modeled in MATLAB. The missile vector and dynamics are based upon Newton's laws and the simulation uses an earth-centered coordinate system. The Bayesian algorithm has the best performance resulting in arms missile position error of less than 20 m.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Sep 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA427181

Entities

People

  • I. G. Humali

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Algorithms
  • Altitude
  • Ballistic Missiles
  • Boost Phase
  • Coordinate Systems
  • Defense Systems
  • Detection
  • Detectors
  • Grids
  • Information Science
  • Infrared Detectors
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • Kalman Filtering
  • Probability
  • Radar
  • Simulations
  • Warning Systems

Readers

  • Approximation Theory.
  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Missile Defense Systems.

Technology Areas

  • AI & ML
  • AI & ML - Bayesian Inference
  • Space
  • Space - Space Objects