On the use of HRR data to improve target kinematics estimation: CRLB computation and comparison with simulated results

An innovative approach to jointly estimate and compensate the radial velocity and acceleration of non-cooperative targets in HRR (High Range Resolution) processing for a frequency stepped radar has been proposed in. The estimation is performed using different approaches mainly based on the maximization or the minimization of a proper functional (contrast, correlation-like or entropy) of the reconstructed profile. The partial improvement found for the target velocity and acceleration estimation indicates that the three analyzed “cost functions” don´t reach ideal performance. Scope of this paper is to quantify the best theoretical achievable performance by means of the Cramer-Rao Lower Bounds (CRLB) and compare the obtained results in with the CRLB.