Automatic algorithm for estimating fundamental periodicity of jet engine modulation signals

In this paper, we present an automatic algorithm for estimating the spool rate, which imparts fundamental periodicity to jet engine modulation (JEM) signals. First, complex empirical mode decomposition is applied to the analytic form of the JEM signal. Then, the extracted basic components are combined to minimize the mean of the JEM auto-correlation. Finally, the peak detection algorithm is employed for automatic estimation of the spool rate. The proposed algorithm has good applicability for various JEM signals, and is expected to be further applied to automatic radar target recognition.