Characterization of information in phase of radar range profiles

This work characterizes information in the phase of radar range profiles with respect to the estimation of features of a target present in the measured signal. A physics-based high-frequency parametric model is employed to describe the radar backscatter. Information is quantified by the error standard deviation of target parameter estimates from noisy radar signals with phase either included or discarded. Phase information is shown to provide a factor of six, and four, increase in achievable target position and amplitude estimation, respectively, for X-band signals. The inclusion of phase for target parameter estimation enables significantly improved discrimination of frequency-dependent scattering characteristics.