Utilization of Atmospheric Refractivity Information to Improve Radar Operation in Littoral Environments

"Atmospheric refractivity has significant influence over radiofrequency (RF) propagation in the Earth's troposphere.Refractivity conditions can vary from sub-refraction to strong-trapping, thereby altering radar detection, measurement, andclutter performance across its coverage volume. Current radarsystems operate independently of changing refractivityconditions, mainly because quantitative estimates of suchconditions have not been available to operational systems andcould not be converted to their propagation performanceequivalent in near real-time. However, recent advances in theareas of refractivity estimation from basic parameters and fromradar clutter, and processing efficiency improvements inParabolic-Equation-based propagation models, narrow that gap.This proposal describes an architecture and techniques to combineinformation from linear, high-resolution, clutter-maps, withinformation from propagation-coverage-maps, to improve radarperformance in detection, tracking, engagement, and resourceconservation, and to improve sensor fusion and combat systemperformance. It presents results for selected techniques,analyzed during the Phase I base-period, demonstratingfeasibility. Phase II efforts to expand the analysis, demonstrateimprovements in a Navy simulation, validate results via Navyradar measurements, design a supporting software test-bed, anddevelop prototype test-bed components, are described. Theproposed effort under the Phas