Rapid radar backscatter simulation of detailed targets

A method of rapidly simulating the radar backscatter signatures of targets moving relative to a fuzzing radar located on an interceptor missile is described. A geometric optics approach is used to estimate the radar return from a detailed target surface described by functions which are almost everywhere curvature continuous. The method exploits the second-order continuity of the target description to reduce the problem of finding all the specular points associated with each new trajectory position to that of tracking the motion of existing points. In addition, the use of B-spline-like surfaces over arbitrary topological meshes is demonstrated as a technique for extending the results to work directly from existing faceted target models