Micromotion Parameter Estimation of Free Rigid Targets Based on Radar Micro-Doppler

In this paper, an estimation method of micromotion parameters for free rigid targets using micro-Doppler (mD) features is investigated. These parameters include spin rate, precession rate, nutation angle, and inertia ratio. They represent the microdynamic characteristics and intrinsic properties of targets. The time variation of mD frequency is found complicated yet valuable to estimate the micromotion parameters. From the viewpoint of the spectra of mixed mD time-frequency (TF) data sequences, the theoretical analysis and mathematical derivation are conducted in detail according to the scatterer distribution of rigid bodies. We then present an approach to realize the micromotion parameter estimation from radar mD echoes. It mainly consists of TF transform, TF image processing, mixed mD TF data sequence formation, and spectral estimation. Simulation experiments and result discussion are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed estimation method.