LADAR Discrimination Using Holographic Techniques

This effort proposes a unique LADAR system concept, based on holographic methods that can potentially enhance Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) discrimination performance The concept extends conventional holographic methods by exploiting modern beam forming and digital signal processing techniques, as well as advances in laser and photo detector technologies that may permit successful ballistic missile defense applications, particularly in the area of lethal target discrimination. Holographic images have the potential of providing added target features for discrimination that may not be obtainable from other types of LADAR images. In addition, since holographic imaging is a lens less process it may not require stringent a priori knowledge of target kinematic and dynamic properties, as is the case with, for example, focused range-Doppler imaging. The system envisioned would consist of a pulsed laser transmitter to illuminate the target, and a local reference laser in conjunction with a photo detector array to record both the amplitude and the phase of the target backscatter. Modern beam forming techniques, developed for RF applications, but extendable to this process, will be used to generate the images, while fine resolution digital signal processing methods, like the two dimensional Prony method, would be used to estimate useful target size, shape, configuration and motion parameters. These digital signal processing methods are also implemented to mitigate unreasonably large photo detector arrays that might be required when using conventional imaging generation algorithms for ballistic missile defense applications. This imaging system has the potential to provide useful target information in a few of the BMDS deployment phases The algorithm derived algorithms can be integrated into the current multisensor fusion Decision Architecture and or Discrimination Algorithm Suites developed by Project Hercules.