DPSS Radar Research Topics

2 December 2010

Leon StaphorstPrinciple Researcher

Radar and Electronic WarfareDefence, Peace, Safety and Security

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

Presentation outline

Team and current research topics Overview of potential research topics Questions and discussion

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Team and current research topics (1)

• Radar at DPSS consists of two research groups:oRadar Experimental Design

oRadar Research and Applications

• What do we do:oRadar Innovation:

Develop radar concepts

Develop radar algorithms and techniques

Partner with industry

Aligned to R&D thrusts

oRadar Knowledgeable Services:

Gripen Radar Acquisition Support

Gripen Radar Performance Modelling for Tactics Development

Frigate Radar ECCM Evaluation

Navy Patrol Vessel Radar Acquisition Support

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Team and current research topics (2)

oUtilise 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

oPersistent 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 6 of 41 © CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za

Presentation outline

Team and current research topics Overview of potential research topics Questions and discussion

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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

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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

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Overview of potential research topics (3)

• 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

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Overview of potential research topics (4)

• 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

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Overview of potential research topics (5)

• 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

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Overview of potential research topics (6)

• 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 13 of 41 © CSIR 2009 www.csir.co.za

Presentation outline

Team and current research topics Overview of potential research topics Questions and discussion

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Questions and discussions

Any questions or comments can be sent to:

Leon Staphorst

Email: lstaphorst@csir.co.za

Tel: +27 12 841 3236

Cell: +27 82 857 1135