Thesis (M. S.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2005. / Rogers, Peter, Committee Chair ; Ginsberg, Jerry, Committee Member ; Trivett, David, Committee Member. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Nevada, Reno, 2006. / "May, 2006." Includes bibliographical references (leaf 107). Online version available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 82-85.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Queensland, 2007. / Includes bibliography.

A passive radar systems opportunistic ability to exploit ambient radio signal reflections makes it ideal for covert target tracking. This strategy, referred to as passive covert radar (PCR) or passive coherent location (PCL), typically exploits FM radio or television signals from powerful local transmitters. In addition to covertness, the absence of a dedicated transmitter helps reduce costs and overall system complexity. While a variety of measurements can be used to estimate a targets position and velocity, such as time difference of arrival (TDOA) and direction of arrival (DOA), this thesis focuses on using only Doppler shift measurements to estimate a targets state. The work presented in this thesis examines the use of Doppler shift measurements from multiple receivers to solve the target tracking and association problem. A nonlinear least squares error (NLSE) estimation technique, called the Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) algorithm, is used to determine a targets state (position, velocity) from these Doppler shift measurements. More than one target state can potentially produce identical Doppler shift profiles. In a single-receiver, single-target scenario, it is shown that three additional ghost targets caused by symmetry produce the same Doppler shift response. These ghosts may make state estimation impossible if receive antennas are not physically positioned to block out ghost targets. While the NLSE technique tends to give an accurate solution in one quadrant, three other solutions will symmetrically exist in each of the remaining three quadrants. The addition of either another receiver or another measurement (such as DOA) is needed to break this quadrant ambiguity. This thesis considers adding multiple receivers to accurately associate and track multiple targets. Two target association methods (sequential and simultaneous) are developed, and their computational requirements and accuracy are compared. A grid-aided L-M search technique is investigated in an attempt to provide a better initial target state guess to these association and tracking algorithms. The analysis and simulation results suggest it is feasible to perform multi-target association and tracking using Doppler shift as the sole measurement. Both of the proposed methods gave optimal target association and converged to reasonably accurate state estimates in most of the Monte Carlo runs.

Thesis (M.S. in Engineering Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, December 2003. / Thesis advisor(s): David C. Jenn, D. Curtis Schleher. Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-96). Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1999. / Bibliography: p. 215-220.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2004. / Bibliography: leaves 68-78.

The effects of wind farm installation on the conventional monostatic radar operation have been investigated in previous studies. The interference on radar operation is due to the complex scattering characteristics from the wind turbine structure. This research considers alternative approach for studying and potentially mitigating these negative impacts by adapting the multistatic radar system technique. This radar principle is well known and it is attracting research interest recently, but has not been applied in modelling the wind farm interference on multistatic radar detection and tracking of multiple targets. The research proposes two areas of novelties. The first area includes the simulation tool development of multistatic radar operation near a wind farm environment. The second area includes the adaptation of Range-Only target detection approach based on mathematical and/or statistical methods for target detection and tracking, such as Interval Analysis and Particle Filter. These methods have not been applied against such complex detection scenario of large number of targets within a wind farm environment. Range-Only target detection approach is often considered to achieve flexibility in design and reduction in cost and complexity of the radar system. However, this approach may require advanced signal processing techniques to effectively associate measurements from multiple sensors to estimate targets positions. This issue proved to be more challenging for the complex detection environment of a wind farm due to the increase in number of measurements from the complex radar scattering of each turbine. The research conducts a comparison between Interval Analysis and Particle Filter. The comparison is based on the performance of the two methods according to three aspects; number of real targets detected, number of ghost targets detected and the accuracy of the estimated detections. Different detection scenarios are considered for this comparison, such as single target detection, wind farm detection, and ultimately multiple targets at various elevations within a wind farm environment.

<p>A common way to measure height in aerial vehicles is to use a radar height altimeter (RHM). Since the RHM transmits radar pulses that can be detected, a passive alternative would be desirable in military applications. The idea to use reflected signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) as a bistatic radar, has been established over the last years. The GPS signals are already present and would not reveal aeroplanes in covert operations. </p><p>In this thesis, the use of reflected GPS signals as a bistatic, passive altimeter is examined. A simulation model has been developed and implemented, and simulations using the model have been done. Different types of ground cover have been investigated, both water and land types, with varying reflectivity and scattering behaviour. For larger terrain variations, e.g. mountains and valleys, a ground elevation database has been used. Furthermore, several parameters, like the antenna coverage and the satellite elevation angle, have been varied and the result of this examined. </p><p>The results of these simulations show that measuring height is possible for bothsea and land surfaces. The accuracy depends on several error factors, like a bias originating from surface roughness and measurement errors due to noise in the receiver. The simulations also show that the most important design parameter is the antenna, which must be designed to give a sufficiently large SNR, capture the specular reflection and avoid unwanted reflections.</p>