Radar tracking system development

• Main Author: Chin, Yue Hann
• Other Authors: Eliahu N. Niewood and David H. Staelin.
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2006
• Subjects: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30368

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2005. === This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. === Includes bibliographical references (leaf 65). === The Airborne Seeker Test Bed (ASTB) is an airborne sensor testing platform operated by the Tactical Defense Systems group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The Instrumentation Head (IH) is a primary sensor on the ASTB. It is a passive X-band radar receiver located on the nose of the plane. The IH serves as a truth sensor for other RF systems on the test bed and is controlled by an onboard tracking system, the Seeker Computer. The Seeker Computer processes IH data in real-time to track targets in Doppler, angle, and range. From these tracks it then produces angle-error feedback signals that command the IH gimbals, keeping targets centered along the antenna boresight. Over three years, a new Seeker Computer was built to replace an old system constrained by obsolete hardware. The redevelopment project was a team effort and this thesis presents a systems-level analysis of the design process, the new Seeker Computer system, and the related team and individual contributions to software and digital signal processing research that took place during development. === by Yue Hann Chin. === M.Eng.