A Design and Assessment of a Direction Finding Proximity Fuze Sensor

This paper presents the implementation and assessment of a direction finding proximity fuze sensor for anti-aircrafts or anti-air missiles. A higher rejection of clutter signals is achieved by employing a binary phase shift keying modulation using Legendre sequence. The direction finding is implemented by comparing received powers from six receiving antennas equally spaced by an angle of 60° around a cylindrical surface. In addition, target detection algorithms have been developed for a robust detection of the target, taking the wide variation of target related parameters into considerations. The performances of the developed fuze sensor are experimentally verified by constructing the fuze-specific encounter simulation test apparatus, which collects and analyzes reflected signals from a standard target. The developed fuze sensor can successfully detect the -10 dBsm target over a 10 m range as well as the direction with an out-of-range rejection of about 40 dB. Furthermore, the developed fuze sensor can clearly detect the target with mesh clutter environment. To assess realistic operation, the fuze sensor is tested using 155 mm gun firing test setup. Through the gun firing test, the successful fuzing range and direction finding performances are demonstrated.