Multi-Frequency Radar Discrimination

In Phase II, TSC proposes to further develop and validate a novel approach to: (1) multi-sensor motion parameter estimation and (2) reconstruction of multi-band radar static patterns, which was successfully demonstrated in Phase I. The overall goal of this research is to provide the radars of Aegis BMD with robust physics-based methods for discriminating the lethal reentry vehicle from among large numbers of clutter and threat-like objects associated with advanced countermeasures. TSC’s Phase I approach will be refined and applied to specific Aegis BMD target models, scenarios and radar systems during Phase II. TSC’s technique provides seamless simultaneous determination of target rotational state and static RCS patterns. This is an innovation over traditional radar discrimination features such as RCS statistics and apparent length, which are derived from time-dependent radar signatures and do not estimate genuine invariant properties of the target or its motion state. Precise estimation of the rotational motion of targets is key to successfully exploiting information from multiple sensors. This Phase II program focuses on practical implementation of a new algorithm for estimating target rotational motion state, as applied to the S- and X-band radars of Aegis BMD.