SPLASH DETECTION AND SURVEILLANCE RADAR

THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVE FOR THIS PHASE I SBIR PROGRAM IS THE DEFINITION OF A CONCEPT FOR AN INNOVATIVE, LOW COST RADAR SYSTEM CAPABLE OF THE DETECTION OF OCEAN SPLASHES CREATED BY THE IMPACT OF REENTRY VEHICLES AS WELL AS THE SURVEILLANCE OF AIRCRAFT AND SHIPS IN THE KWAJALEIN MISSILE RANGE (KMR). IT WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF PREVIOUS THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF RADARS FOR SPLASH LOCATION, PERISCOPE/SNORKEL DETECTION, AND SMALL BOAT DETECTION. WHILE PHYSICAL PRINCIPLES OF EARLIER RADARS FOR DETECTION OF SMALL TARGETS ON THE SURFACE OF THE SEA HAVE NOT CHANGED, TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES HAVE MADE LOWER COST IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH RADARS MORE PRACTICAL. THE FOLLOWING MAJOR TECHNOLOGIES HAVE ADVANCED RECENTLY AND ARE PERTINENT TO UPDATING THESE RADAR CONCEPTS: RAPID-SCAN, STABLIZED ANTENNAS; SOLID STATE ELECTRONICS; LOW-NOISE RECEIVERS FOR X-, KU, AND KA-BANDS; DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING; VIDEO RECORDING; SATELLITE NAVIGATION AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS; AND COMPUTERIZED DATA REDUCTION. THE PROBLEM WILL BE CONSIDERED FROM THE STANDPOINTS OF BOTH GENERIC SMALL-TARGET CLASSES AND SPECIFIC CURRENT AND POTENTIAL FUTURE TARGETS. IN PARTICULAR, THESE WILL INCLUDE SPLASHES PRODUCED BY INTACT OR FRAGMENTED REENTRY OBJECTS AND SURFACE TARGETS HAVING SMALL TO MEDIUM (E.G., 1 TO 100 SQUARE METERS) EFFECTIVE RADAR CROSS-SECTIONS. EARLIER APPROACHES WILL BE UPDATED AND EXTENDED, WITH PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO LOW COST RAPID-SCAN RADARS FOR SHIPS OR AIRCRAFT PLATFORMS. ONE OR MORE OF THE MOST PROMISING CONCEPTS WILL BE MODELED FOR BASIC ANALYSIS, AND PRELIMINARY SYSTEMS PARAMETERS WILL BE SPECIFIED SO THAT A TECHNICALLY FEASIBLE RADAR CONCEPT MAY BE DEFINED THAT MEETS THE KWAJALEIN MISSILE RANGE SPLASH DETECTION AND SURVEILLANCE NEEDS.