Radar Based Estimation of Asymmetric Target Inertial Parameters

• Main Author: Hatch, Nicholas Adam
• Other Authors: Homer F. Walker, Committee Member
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital WPI 2006
• Subjects: estimation; radar; asymmetric; inertial; dynamics; rigid body; exo-atmospheric; free body; Radar; Dynamics; Rigid
• Online Access: https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/etd-dissertations/111; https://digitalcommons.wpi.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1110&context=etd-dissertations

Rigid body targets in exo-atmospheric free fall undergo motions defined by classical dynamics. Radar signatures provide a platform for estimation of various parameters relating to the motion and scattering characteristics of the target. This thesis provides a Radar based, physics constrained, estimator of the motion which generates these signatures. As part of this analysis, it defines a motion model for a ``nearly' axially symmetric target in terms of its inertial parameters. We show that the time-varying range to a point on the rigid body can be expressed in the form of an amplitude and frequency modulated signal. The frequency decomposition of this range function is used to estimate the target's elliptic modulus, an inertial parameter directly related to the asymmetry. This result has immediate application as a tool to assist the radar analyst in further target characterization and constitutes and essential step to the full reconstruction of a target's geometry from its signature.