Method and apparatus for measuring distance

The invention employs a continuous wave radar technique and apparatus which can be used as a distance measuring system in the presence of background clutter by utilizing small passive transponders. A first continuous electromagnetic wave signal S sub 1 at a first frequency f sub 1 is transmitted from a first location. A transponder carried by a target object positioned at a second (remote) location receives the transmitted signal, phase-coherently divides the f sub 1 frequency and its phase, and re-transmits the transmitted signal as a second continuous electromagnetic wave signal S sub 2 at a lower frequency f sub 2 which is a subharmonic of f sub 1. The re-transmitted signal is received at the first location where a measurement of the phase difference is made between the signals S sub 1 and S sub 2, such measuremnt being indicative of the distance between the first and second locations

Target Localization Accuracy Gain in MIMO Radar Based Systems

This paper presents an analysis of target localization accuracy, attainable by the use of MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) radar systems, configured with multiple transmit and receive sensors, widely distributed over a given area. The Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for target localization accuracy is developed for both coherent and non-coherent processing. Coherent processing requires a common phase reference for all transmit and receive sensors. The CRLB is shown to be inversely proportional to the signal effective bandwidth in the non-coherent case, but is approximately inversely proportional to the carrier frequency in the coherent case. We further prove that optimization over the sensors' positions lowers the CRLB by a factor equal to the product of the number of transmitting and receiving sensors. The best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE) is derived for the MIMO target localization problem. The BLUE's utility is in providing a closed form localization estimate that facilitates the analysis of the relations between sensors locations, target location, and localization accuracy. Geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) contours are used to map the relative performance accuracy for a given layout of radars over a given geographic area.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figures, submitted to IEEE Transaction on Information Theor

Passive MIMO Radar Detection

Passive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar is a sensor network comprised of multiple distributed receivers that detects and localizes targets using the emissions from multiple non-cooperative radio frequency transmitters. This dissertation advances the theory of centralized passive MIMO radar (PMR) detection by proposing two novel generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) detectors. The first addresses detection in PMR networks without direct-path signals. The second addresses detection in PMR networks with direct-path signals. The probability distributions of both test statistics are investigated using recent results from random matrix theory. Equivalence is established between PMR networks without direct-path signals and passive source localization (PSL) networks. Comparison of both detectors with a centralized GLRT for active MIMO radar (AMR) detection reveals that PMR may be interpreted as the link between AMR and PSL sensor networks. In particular, under high direct-path-to-noise ratio (DNR) conditions, PMR sensitivity and ambiguity approaches that of AMR. Under low-DNR conditions, PMR sensitivity and ambiguity approaches that of PSL. At intermediate DNRs, PMR sensitivity and ambiguity smoothly varies between that of AMR and PSL. In this way, PMR unifies PSL and AMR within a common theoretical framework. This result provides insight into the fundamental natures of active and passive distributed sensing

Statistical Error Analysis of a DOA Estimator for a PCL System Using the Cramer-RAO Bound Theorem

Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation of signals has been a popular research area in Signal Processing. DOA estimation also has a significant role in the object location process of Passive Coherent Location (PCL) systems. PCL systems have been in open literature since 1986 and their applications are not as clearly understood as the DOA estimation problem. However, they are the focus of many current research efforts and show much promise. The purpose of this research is to analyze the DOA estimation errors in a PCL system. The performance of DOA estimators is studied using the Cramer-Rao Bound (CRB) Theorem. The CRB provides a lower bound on the variance of unbiased DOA estimators. Since variance is a desirable property for measuring the accuracy of an estimator, the CRB gives a good indication about the performance of an estimator. Previous DOA estimators configured with array antennas used the array antenna manifold, or the properties of the array antenna structure, to estimate signal DOA. Conventional DOA estimators use arbitrary signal (AS) structures. Constant Modulus (CM) DOA estimators restrict the input signals to a family of constant envelope signals, and when there are multiple signals in the environment, CM DOA estimators are able to separate signals from each other using the CM signal property. CM estimators then estimate the DOA for each signal individually. This research compares the CRB for AS and CM DOA estimators for a selected system. The CRB is also computed for this system when single and multiple and moving objects are present. The CRBAS and CRBCM are found to be different for the multiple signal case and moving object cases

LIBRA: An inexpensive geodetic network densification system

A description is given of the Libra (Locations Interposed by Ranging Aircraft) system, by which geodesy and earth strain measurements can be performed rapidly and inexpensively to several hundred auxiliary points with respect to a few fundamental control points established by any other technique, such as radio interferometry or satellite ranging. This low-cost means of extending the accuracy of space age geodesy to local surveys provides speed and spatial resolution useful, for example, for earthquake hazards estimation. Libra may be combined with an existing system, Aries (Astronomical Radio Interferometric Earth Surveying) to provide a balanced system adequate to meet the geophysical needs, and applicable to conventional surveying. The basic hardware design was outlined and specifications were defined. Then need for network densification was described. The following activities required to implement the proposed Libra system are also described: hardware development, data reduction, tropospheric calibrations, schedule of development and estimated costs

Passive Tracking System and Method

System and methods are disclosed for passively determining the location of a moveable transmitter utilizing a pair of phase shifts at a receiver for extracting a direction vector from a receiver to the transmitter. In a preferred embodiment, a phase difference between the transmitter and receiver is extracted utilizing a noncoherent demodulator in the receiver. The receiver includes antenna array with three antenna elements, which preferably are patch antenna elements placed apart by one-half wavelength. Three receiver channels are preferably utilized for simultaneously processing the received signal from each of the three antenna elements. Multipath transmission paths for each of the three receiver channels are indexed so that comparisons of the same multipath component are made for each of the three receiver channels. The phase difference for each received signal is determined by comparing only the magnitudes of received and stored modulation signals to determine a winning modulation symbol

Remote sensing of earth terrain

Abstracts from 46 refereed journal and conference papers are presented for research on remote sensing of earth terrain. The topics covered related to remote sensing include the following: mathematical models, vegetation cover, sea ice, finite difference theory, electromagnetic waves, polarimetry, neural networks, random media, synthetic aperture radar, electromagnetic bias, and others

Target localization in MIMO radar systems

MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output) radar systems employ multiple antennas to transmit multiple waveforms and engage in joint processing of the received echoes from the target. MIMO radar has been receiving increasing attention in recent years from researchers, practitioners, and funding agencies. Elements of MIMO radar have the ability to transmit diverse waveforms ranging from independent to fully correlated. MIMO radar offers a new paradigm for signal processing research. In this dissertation, target localization accuracy performance, attainable by the use of MIMO radar systems, configured with multiple transmit and receive sensors, widely distributed over an area, are studied. The Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for target localization accuracy is developed for both coherent and noncoherent processing. The CRLB is shown to be inversely proportional to the signal effective bandwidth in the noncoherent case, but is approximately inversely proportional to the carrier frequency in the coherent case. It is shown that optimization over the sensors\u27 positions lowers the CRLB by a factor equal to the product of the number of transmitting and receiving sensors. The best linear unbiased estimator (BLUE) is derived for the MIMO target localization problem. The BLUE\u27s utility is in providing a closed-form localization estimate that facilitates the analysis of the relations between sensors locations, target location, and localization accuracy. Geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) contours are used to map the relative performance accuracy for a given layout of radars over a given geographic area. Coherent processing advantage for target localization relies on time and phase synchronization between transmitting and receiving radars. An analysis of the sensitivity of the localization performance with respect to the variance of phase synchronization error is provided by deriving the hybrid CRLB. The single target case is extended to the evaluation of multiple target localization performance. Thus far, the analysis assumes a stationary target. Study of moving target tracking capabilities is offered through the use of the Bayesian CRLB for the estimation of both target location and velocity. Centralized and decentralized tracking algorithms, inherit to distributed MIMO radar architecture, are proposed and evaluated. It is shown that communication requirements and processing load may be reduced at a relatively low performance cost

Ambiguity Function Analysis and Direct-Path Signal Filtering of the Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) Waveform for Passive Coherent Location (PCL)

This research presents an ambiguity function analysis of the digital audio broadcast (DAB) waveform and one signal detection approach based on signal space projection techniques that effectively filters the direct-path signal from the receiver target channel. Currently, most Passive Coherent Location (PCL) research efforts are focused and based on frequency modulated (FM) radio broadcasts and analog television (TV) waveforms. One active area of PCL research includes the search for new waveforms of opportunity that can be exploited for PCL applications. As considered for this research, one possible waveform of opportunity is the European digital radio standard DAB. For this research, the DAB performance is analyzed for application as a PCL waveform of opportunity. For this analysis, DAB ambiguity function calculations and ambiguity surface plots are created and evaluated. Signal detection capability, to include characterization of time-delay and Doppler-shift measurement accuracy and resolution, is investigated and determined to be quite acceptable for the DAB wavefor