RADAR MULTIPATH AND CLUTTER SUPPRESSION IN THEATRE MISSILE DEFENSE

INNOVATIVE APPROACHES ARE PROPOSED FOR ANALYTICAL INVESTIGATION AND EVALUATION IN A PHASE I EFFORT TO DEVELOP MULTIPATH AND CLUTTER SUPPRESSION TECHNIQUES FOR LOW SURFACE GRAZING ANGLE CMW AND MMW RADAR DIRECT OR DIFFERENTIAL GUIDANCE OF A MISSILE TO A TARGET IN THEATER MISSILE DEFENSE APPLICATIONS. THE RADAR IS EITHER MISSILE-BONE OR SITUATED IN THE MISSILE LAUNCH AREA OR ON THE LAUNCH PLATFORM. AN OFF-MISSILE RADAR TRACKS A MISSILE AND TARGETS AT LOW ELEVATION ANGLES RELATIVE TO ITS POSITION, AND DETERMINES WHAT GUIDANCE CORRECTION MIGHT BE NECESSARY TO COMMUNICATE ON AN UPLINK TO THE MISSILE IN ORDER TO GUIDE ACCURATELY TO A PARTICULAR TARGET, OR TO A POINT BEYOND WHICH AUTONOMOUS-HOMING MISSILE WOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE OVER FOR A SURE TARGET HIT. THE MULTIPATH AND CLUTTER ARE VIA REFLECTION/SCATTERING OF THE OUTGOING RADAR AND/OR UPLINK SIGNAL, AS WELL AS OF SIGNAL RETURNS FROM MISSILE AND TARGETS, OFF INTERVENING TERRAIN. THIS CAUSES ERRORS IN THE DETERMINATION AND TRACKING OF MISSILE AND TARGET ANGEL AND RANGE POSITIONS, WHICH ERRORS COMBINE IN THE VECTOR DIFFERENCE TO CAUSE LARGER AND LARGER PERCENTAGE ERRORS AS THE MISSILE APPROACHES THE TARGET LOCATION. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE IS TO RENDER NEGLIGIBLE ALL ERRORS DUE TO MULTIPATH AND CLUTTER. THE VARIOUS APPROACHES PROPOSED WILL BE EVALUATED FOR REAL-TIME EFFECTIVENESS, IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS, COMPLEXITY, TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY, PERFORMANCE RELIABILITY AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS TRADE-OFFS. THE PHASE I PROGRAM WILL RESULT IN A SPECIFIC MULTIPATH AND CLUTTER SUPPRESSION TECHNIQUE AND RELATED ALGORITHMS, PERFORMANCE PREDICTIONS AND A PLAN FOR PROTOTYPE IMPLEMENTATION, VALIDATION AND DEMONSTRATION TO PHASE II.