Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2003. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Available also from UMI Company.

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International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 26-29, 1998 / Town & Country Resort Hotel and Convention Center, San Diego, California / Three-channel monopulse tracking receiver systems are commonly used for high performance tracking of satellites, missiles, or aircraft to maximize the reception of data. Typically, the receiver in such systems are custom designed for their end purpose. This results in a high cost to cover the development, service, and support of a highly specialized piece of equipment. This paper covers the requirements and performance of a 3-channel monopulse tracking receiver assembled from commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) equipment. Such a system provides an option for designing or upgrading tracking stations with the lower cost, larger support base, and greater system configuration choices that are available with COTS equipment.

This master’s thesis covers the design and implementation of a monopulse directionof arrival (DOA) estimation algorithm on an FPGA. The goal is to implement a complete system that is capable of estimating the bearing of an incident signal. In order to determine the estimate quality both a theoretical and practical noise analysis of the signal chain is performed. Special focus is placed on the statistical properties of the transformation from I/Q-demodulated signals with correlated noise to a polar representation. The pros and cons for three different methods of calculating received signal phasors are also covered.The system is limited to two receiving channels which constrains this report to a 2D analysis. In addition the used hardware is limited to C-band signals. We show that an FPGA implementation of monopulse techniques is definitely viable and that an SNR higher than ten dB allows for a gaussian approximation of the polar representationof an I/Q signal.

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As part of the processing of tracking targets, surveillance radars detect the presence of targets and estimate their locations. This dissertation re-examines some of the often ignored practical considerations of radar tracking. With the advent of digital computers, modern radars now use sampled versions of received signals for processing. Sampling rates used in practice result in the bin-straddling phenomenon, which is often treated as an undesired loss in signal power. Here, a signal model that explicitly models the sampling process is used in the derivation of the average loglikelihood ratio test (ALLRT), and its detection performance is shown to defeat the bin-straddling losses seen in traditional radar detectors. In monopulse systems, data samples are taken from the sum and difference channels, by which a target direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimate can be formed. Using the same signal model, we derive new estimators for target range, strength, and DOA and show performance benefits over traditional monopulse techniques that are predominant in practice. Since tracking algorithms require an error variance report on target parameter estimates, we propose using the generalized Cramer-Rao lower bound (GCRLB), which is the CRLB evaluated at estimates rather than true values, as an error variance report. We demonstrate the statistical efficiency and variance consistency of the new estimators. With several parameter estimates collected over time, tracking algorithms are used to compute track state estimates and predict future locations. Using agile- beam surveillance radars with programmable energy waveforms, optimal scheduling of radar resources is a topic of interest. In this dissertation, we focus on the energy management considerations of tracking highly maneuverable aircraft. A comparison between two competing interacting multiple model (IMM) filter configurations is made, and a recently proposed unbiased mixing procedure is extended to the case of three modes. Finally, we introduce the radar management operating curve (RMOC), which shows the fundamental tradeoff in radar time and energy, to aid radar designers in the selection of an overall operating signal-to-noise level.

<p> Detection and estimation of multiple unresolved targets with a monopulse radar is a challenging problem. For ideal single bin processing, it was shown in the literature that at most two unresolved targets can be extracted from the complex matched filter output signal. In this thesis, a new algorithm is developed to jointly detect and track more than two targets from a single detection. This method involves the use of tracking data in the detection process. For this purpose, target states are transformed into the detection parameter space, which involves high nonlinearity. In order to handle this, the sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) method, which has proven to be effective in nonlinear non-Gaussian estimation problems, is used as the basis of the closed loop system for tracking multiple unresolved targets. In addition to the standard SMC steps, the detection parameters corresponding to the predicted particles are evaluated using the nonlinear monopulse radar beam model. This in turn enables the evaluation of the likelihood of the monopulse signal given tracking data. Hypothesis testing is then used to find the correct detection event. The particles are updated and resampled according to the hypothesis that has the highest likelihood (score). A simulated amplitude comparison monopulse radar is used to generate the data and to validate the extraction and tracking of more than two unresolved targets.</p> / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

The development of millimeter-wave (30-300 GHz) sensors and communications systems has a long history of interest, spanning back almost six decades. In particular, mm-wave radars have applications as automotive radars, in remote atmospheric sensing applications, as landing radars for air and spacecraft, and for high precision imaging applications. Mm-wave radar systems have high angular accuracy and range resolution, and, while susceptible to atmospheric attenuation, are less susceptible to optically opaque conditions, such as smoke or dust. This dissertation document will present the initial steps towards a new approach to the creation of a mm-wave radar system at 94 GHz. Specifically, this dissertation presents the design, fabrication and testing of various components of a highly integrated mm-wave a 94 Ghz monopulse radar transmitter/receiver. Several architectural approaches are considered, including passive and active implementations of RF monopulse comparator networks. These architectures are enabled by a high-performance three-dimensional rectangular coaxial microwave transmission line technology known as PolyStrataTM as well as silicon-based IC technologies. A number of specific components are examined in detail, including: a 2x2 PolyStrata antenna array, a passive monopulse comparator network, a 94 GHz SiGe two-port active comparator MMIC, a 24 GHz RF-CMOS 4-port active monopulse comparator IC, and a series of V- and W-band corporate combining structures for use in transmitter power combining applications. The 94 GHz cavity-backed antennas based on a rectangular coaxial feeding network have been designed, fabricated, and tested. 13 dB gain for a 2 x 2 array, as well as antenna patterns are reported. In an effort to facilitate high-accuracy measurement of the antenna array, an E-probe transition to waveguide and PolyStrata diode detectors were also designed and fabricated. AW-band rectangular coaxial passive monopulse comparator with integrated antenna array and diode detectors have also been presented. Measured monopulse nulls of 31.4 dB in the ΔAZ plane have been demonstrated. 94-GHz SiGe active monopulse comparator IC and 24 GHz RF-CMOS active monopulse comparator RFIC designs are presented, including detailed simulations of monopulse nulls and performance over frequency. Simulations of the W-band SiGe active monopulse comparator IC indicate potential for wideband operation, with 30 dB monopulse nulls from 75-105 GHz. For the 24-GHz active monopulse comparator IC, simulated monopulse nulls of 71 dB and 68 dB were reported for the azimuthal and elevational sweeps. Measurements of these ICs were unsuccessful due to layout errors and incomplete accounting for parasitics. Simulated results from a series of rectangular coaxial power corporate power combining structures have been presented, and their relative merits discussed. These designs include 2-1 and 4-1 reactive, Wilkinson, and Gysel combiners at V- and W-band. Measured back-to-back results from Gysel combiners at 60 GHz included insertion loss of 0.13 dB per division for a 2-1 combination, and an insertion loss of 0.3 dB and 0.14 dB for "planar" and "direct" 4-1 combinations, respectively. At 94 GHz, a measured insertion loss of 0.1 dB per division has been presented for a 2-1 Gysel combination, using a back-to-back structure. Preliminary designs for a solid-state power amplifier (SSPA) structure have also been presented. Finally, two conceptual monopulse transceivers will be presented, as a vehicle for integrating the various components demonstrated in this dissertation. / Ph. D.

Thesis (MScEng (Electrical and Electronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / This thesis documents the design and implementation of an S-band receiver for phasecomparison monopulse radar. The design and evaluation of the various sub-systems involved in realizing the receiver are discussed in detail. The designed sub-systems are connected via low loss coaxial cables to form the complete phase-comparison monopulse radar receiver. The performance of the receiver is evaluated and compared with the theoretical results, in terms of frequency response, gain and noise figure. The designed receiver is finally connected to an existing antenna system, and a preliminary test of the complete radar is performed. The initial results show that the design is successful, but the boresight-axis of the radar has shifted in angle and requires pre-comparator phase shifting in order to obtain accurate tracking. ii

On présente dans ce mémoire, une approche globale du probème de poursuite radar de cibles manoeuvrantes à faible rapport signal/bruit, par filtrage non-linéaire particulaire. Le filtrage particulaire, dont les bases ont été jetées dès 1989, permet d'aborder tous les cas où les non-linéarités présentes posent des difficultés de résolution aux techniques de filtrage dynamique. Il consiste à construire une approximation-mesure de la probabilité conditionnelle de la variable d'état à estimer par particules aléatoires, dont la dynamique est régie par le flot stochastique du système, et qui sont pondérées, via la règle de Bayes, par les mesures jusqu'à l'instant courant. Ce travail présente en premier lieu le traitement direct des mesures radar brutes en sortie d'échantillonneur/convertisseur. On montre notamment que la prise en compte de la dynamique de cible dans l'intégration cohérente des récurrences RADAR, permet d'atteindre les limites théoriques de détection, jusqu'alors inacessibles. Cela conduit notamment à revoir le problème de détection, car l'intégration d'un modèle de dynamique permet de relever le rapport signal/bruit équivalent, et minimise les problèmes de fausse alarme. En second lieu, on détaille le post-traitement des données de position délivrées par un radar de poursuite usuel, en particulier pour le modèle générique de missile à loi de navigation proportionnelle. On présente dans ce cas la résolution du problème de détermination de but visé, qui se pose en terme d'un test d'hypothèses sur le modèle de dynamique de l'assaillant.