Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Electrical Engineering
Committee Chair
Laurie Joiner
Committee Member
Adam Panagos
Committee Member
Mervin Budge
Committee Member
Aubrey Beal
Committee Member
Dongsheng Wu
Research Advisor
Laurie Joiner
Subject(s)
Radar targets, Target acquisition, Signal processing
Abstract
A novel reference target sliding method (RTSM) in the frequency domain of post-match-filtered radar data is presented, and it is shown that target resolution can be improved to levels much finer than classical bandwidth-limited resolution metrics. The RTSM uses a priori knowledge of the radar system to test returned signals against baseline references to provide expected target fitting. The methods developed have broad application and can be used to provide crossing target resolution and estimation parameter refinement in the presence of overlapping targets. Additionally, the reduced requirement for bandwidth in target resolution will allow for low-bandwidth systems to perform on par with higher-bandwidth systems in several applications. The proposed methods are also well-suited to improve detection and tracking performance in lower cost arrays such as non-actively scanned arrays that employ digital beamforming. The RTSM is presented from an underlying mathematical approach, where input reference data can be formed from closed-form equations or with discrete methods. Tracking case studies and statistical analysis show that RTSM improves target crossing performance in a large variety of cases. Material is presented that demonstrates the algorithm and methods are robust enough to not require strict point targets as input. While RTSM is currently set to accurately resolve no more than two overlapped targets, test data are presented that show its ability to continue to work with relatively high accuracy with interferers present. Finally, discussion is offered for the future direction of this work, including the expansion to a first-look Doppler ambiguity resolver.
Recommended Citation
Shelton, Trent, "Radar resolution improvements using reference target sliding method in range doppler matrix" (2025). Dissertations. 440.
https://louis.uah.edu/uah-dissertations/440
