A Radar Sensor for High-Speed Target Classification and Aimpoint Selection

During Phase I, MARK Resources demonstrated that it is feasible to develop a fuze radar for air-to-ground munitions that is capable of classifying the target, determining its orientation, and measuring the distance and direction to the target, so that the fuze can be detonated for maximum effectiveness. We developed a novel imaging technique for forward-looking synthetic aperture radar processing of stationary targets that achieves high Doppler resolution and requires little computation, and demonstrated that we could measure scatterer positions in the resulting imagery and then use the positions to classify targets and select aimpoints. We also developed techniques for readily generating range/Doppler images of moving targets that contain well-focused responses and techniques for making monopulse measurements on these responses despite the presence of interference, and demonstrated that these also enable target classification and aimpoint selection. The techniques require a coherent wideband monopulse radar and apply for frequencies from Ku-band to W-band. During Phase II, we propose to refine the algorithms developed in Phase I, to automate them for use in a Ku-band radar, and to demonstrate their performance in a dynamic test with this radar moving at low speed on representative paths toward stationary and moving targets.