Use of HRR data for target acceleration estimation: A simple but effective approach

Scope of this paper is to jointly estimate and compensate the radial velocity and the radial acceleration of noncooperative targets in the HRR (high range resolution) processing for frequency stepped radar. The single velocity compensation has been studied [1]. The estimation of the acceleration throughout the proposed algorithm is derived ldquofor freerdquo from the HRR data already processed by the radar for classification purpose. The joint estimation of velocity and acceleration 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. Comparison between these functions with respect to signal to noise ratio (SNR) is evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations.