Estimation of Velocity Moments of Radar Targets

The Doppler-velocity spectrum of a coherent burst of radar pulses after reflection from the wake of a reentry body is considered. Time-domain estimators of the mean-wake velocity and velocity spread in a particular range cell are given in terms of the echo of a coherent N-pulse burst. These formulas yield values equivalent to common frequency-domain estimators, but, for short bursts (N < 50), are computationally faster than their frequency-domain counterparts.