Atmospheric Effects Mitigation and Enhanced Metrics for Improved Radar Tracking and Handover

Propagation Research Associates, Inc., (PRA) proposes an innovative class of algorithms for ionospheric and tropospheric scintillation effects mitigation that will improve target tracking and handover performance in early warning and tracking Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) radars. One issue in BMD tracking is successfully handing over a threat object map (TOM) from a forward-based radar to a rear-based radar. Atmospheric effects from both the ionosphere and the troposphere will distort the TOM in two significant ways – refraction and turbulence. PRA will develop target metrics and algorithms that enhance target tracking and handover using atmospheric refraction and turbulence correlation measurements determined by the Total Atmospheric Effects Mitigation System, developed by PRA for the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and the US Air Force. The proposed radar metrics will enhance BMD radar tracking and handover for all targets including low-elevation targets thereby increasing the coverage area of BMD radars. PRA will demonstrate the effectiveness of these algorithms using a simulation that accounts for scintillation induced spatial and temporal correlation between individual returns for objects in a separating target complex. In Phase II, this simulation will be integrated into early warning MDA radars for algorithm validation.