Accession Number:

ADA243563

Title:

Kalman Filter Tracking of a Reflective Target Using Forward Looking Infrared and Doppler Return Measurements

Descriptive Note:

Master's thesis

Corporate Author:

AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSONAFB OH

Personal Author(s):

• Herrera, Theodore D.

Report Date:

1991-12-01

Pagination or Media Count:

455.0

Abstract:

Plume phenomenology experiments conducted in 1990 uncovered the existence of plume speckle reflectance emanating from the exhaust of a solid- propellant rocket motor due to the presence of metallic particulates in the plume. This impeded attempts, that are dependent upon the speckle return of an actively illuminated target hardbody, to discern the plumehardbody interface. This thesis investigates the feasibility of employing the Doppler return phenomenon in discerning the plumehardbody interface and locating the hardbody center-of-mass. The potential of the Doppler phenomenons utilization lies in the fact that the Doppler return frequency spectra of the plume and the hardbody respectively possess distinct properties and are differentiable from each other. Hence, these differences can be exploited in the attempt to discern the plume hardbody interface. For this study, two center-of-mass Kalman filters are developed to receive the Doppler return measurements a one-state filter and two-state Modified Maximum a Posteriori Multiple Model Adaptive filter. A sensitivity analysis is conducted wherein the performances of the one-state filter and two-state filter are evaluated with variations in transmitted wavelength, signal-to-noise SNR, and probability-of-miss. Results show the center-of-mass filters are sensitive to increases in probability-of-miss, whereas decreases in SNR produced insignificant degradation in performance. The two-state Modified MAPMMAF achieved the best performance, and clearly has the potential to accomplish the task of locating and tracking the hardbody center-of-mass.

Descriptors:

• *KALMAN FILTERING
• *DOPPLER SYSTEMS
• FREQUENCY
• METALS
• CENTER OF GRAVITY
• DEGRADATION
• MODELS
• TRACKING
• THESES
• SENSITIVITY
• SPECTRA
• PARTICULATES
• ADAPTIVE FILTERS
• FILTERS
• PLUMES
• REFLECTANCE
• SOLID PROPELLANT ROCKET ENGINES
• SPECULAR REFLECTION

Subject Categories:

• Infrared Detection and Detectors
• Active and Passive Radar Detection and Equipment
• Target Direction, Range and Position Finding

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE