DPSS Radar Research Topics

2 December 2010

Leon Staphorst Principle Researcher Radar and Electronic Warfare Defence, Peace, Safety and Security

Presentation outline

 Team and current research topics  Overview of potential research topics  Questions and discussion Slide 2 of 41 © CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za

Presentation outline

 Team and current research topics  Overview of potential research topics  Questions and discussion Slide 3 of 41 © CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za

Team and current research topics (1)

• Radar at DPSS consists of two research groups: o Radar Experimental Design o Radar Research and Applications • What do we do: o Radar Innovation:  Develop radar concepts  Develop radar algorithms and techniques  Partner with industry  Aligned to R&D thrusts o Radar Knowledgeable Services:  Gripen Radar Acquisition Support  Gripen Radar Performance Modelling for Tactics Development  Frigate Radar ECCM Evaluation  Navy Patrol Vessel Radar Acquisition Support Slide 4 of 41

Team and current research topics (2)

o Utilise advanced radar facilities:  Experiment with real world data  Real time demonstration of developed techniques  Develop advanced radar concept demonstrators  New systems  New modes for existing facilities o Persistent Ubiquitous Surveillance R&D thrust:  Wide area surveillance with rich information  Detect small, difficult to see targets  Classify targets  Fusion with other sensors (Electro-optics, Signal Intelligence)  Extract intent of targets Slide 5 of 41

Presentation outline

 Team and current research topics  Overview of potential research topics  Questions and discussion Slide 6 of 41 © CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za

Overview of potential research topics (1)

•

Topic 1: Classification of airborne/maritime targets using High Range Resolution (HRR) profiles, High Doppler Resolution (HDR) profiles and/or inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) images

: Development of a target feature database and a set of robust algorithms that use HRR profiles, HDR profiles and ISAR images to extract key features for classification purposes •

Topic 2: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery classification

: Automatically classifying objects of interest, such as roads, fences and vegetation Slide 7 of 41

Overview of potential research topics (2)

•

Topic 3: Radar Cross Section (RCS) modelling of targets and using different scattering mechanisms to aid with classification

: Understanding the different types of scattering mechanisms from complex targets and investigating how this information can be used to aid with classification •

Topic 4: Characterization of Doppler returns for ground-based radar

: Modelling and/or characterization of Doppler returns from animals and vegetation in order to distinguish various characteristics of targets based on long dwell-time Doppler measurements Slide 8 of 41

Overview of potential research topics (3)

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Topic 5: An investigation of the appearance of different Electromagnetic (EM) scattering mechanisms in radar imaging techniques such as SAR and ISAR:

Investigate the appearance of more realistic EM scattering as observed through SAR and/or ISAR processing in order to qualify the artefacts produced, as well as identifying methods to improve the integration gain for non-point-target-like scattering. •

Topic 6: Analysis of the correlations between ship motion (dynamics) and sea conditions as a function of ship size and shape

Investigate whether motion data measured by a radar can be coupled to physical parameters of a ship Slide 9 of 41

Overview of potential research topics (4)

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Topic 7: Multiple scatterer tracking and parameter estimation in HRR profile data:

Tackling the problem of tracking individual scatterers and possibly matching them to scatterer models, which is the next step in solving the single aperture 3D ISAR problem •

Topic 8: Optimisation of automated decision making for radar waveform and antenna control of mechanically scanned radars:

Study into techniques for jointly controlling a mechanically scanned radar’s beam and waveform with the aim of optimising detection, tracking and classification performance jointly •

Topic 9: Model matching of moving objects to their u-Doppler spectrum :

Develop a model based approach to target classification with the idea of also being able to reconstruct object behaviour Slide 10 of 41

Overview of potential research topics (5)

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Topic 10: The use of radar to detect rock falls in mines:

Can a radar help with the problem of early detection of cracks in a mine roof structure ? •

Topic 11: Design of an urban (possibly low frequency) ground-based SAR for imaging and mapping informal rural areas:

Develop a cheap way of mapping rural areas •

Topic 12: Comparison of traditional phased array and MIMO radars:

Investigate performance trade-offs between classic phased array radars and MIMO radars Slide 11 of 41

Overview of potential research topics (6)

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Topic 13: Comparison of Classification Fusion techniques (textual based fusion):

Investigate Dempster-Schaefer vs. Bayesian approaches •

Topic 14: Improving Track Fusion:

Improvement through the use of classification information Slide 12 of 41

Presentation outline

 Team and current research topics  Overview of potential research topics  Questions and discussion Slide 13 of 41 © CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za

Questions and discussions

Any questions or comments can be sent to: Leon Staphorst Email: [email protected]

Tel: +27 12 841 3236 Cell: +27 82 857 1135 Slide 14 of 41