Issues related to waveform computations for radar altimeter applications

Author

Newkirk, Michael H. ; Brown, Gary S.

Author_Institution

Bradley Dept. of Electr. Eng., Virginia Polytech. Inst. & State Univ., Blacksburg, VA, USA

Volume

40

Issue

12

fYear

1992

fDate

12/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1478

Lastpage

1488

Abstract

An algorithm has been developed to model the average return power waveforms available from general radar altimeter systems. The algorithm is based on a convolutional model comprising three functions: the average flat surface impulse response (FSIR), the radar system point target response (PTR), and the height PDF of the specular points on the sea surface. The FSIR is modified to account for the asymmetric antenna beam used by the MARA system, and then certain properties of this modified FSIR are exploited to obtain closed-form expressions that can be rapidly evaluated. A fast Fourier transform (FFT) convolution routine is used to further speed up the computations. The result is an algorithm that can be used to study the effects of pointing errors in surface measurements

Keywords

fast Fourier transforms; radar applications; radioaltimeters; FFT; MARA system; Multimode Aircraft Radar Altimeter; asymmetric antenna beam; average flat surface impulse response; average return power waveforms; convolutional model; fast Fourier transform; height PDF; point target response; pointing errors; radar altimeter applications; sea surface; specular points; surface measurements; Airborne radar; NASA; Power system modeling; Radar antennas; Radar applications; Response surface methodology; Sea measurements; Sea surface; Spaceborne radar; Surface topography;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-926X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/8.204738

Filename

204738