Radar tracking system development

Abstract

The Airborne Seeker Test Bed (ASTB) is an airborne sensor testing platform operated by the Tactical Defense Systems group at MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The Instrumentation Head (IH) is a primary sensor on the ASTB. It is a passive X-band radar receiver located on the nose of the plane. The IH serves as a truth sensor for other RF systems on the test bed and is controlled by an onboard tracking system, the Seeker Computer. The Seeker Computer processes IH data in real-time to track targets in Doppler, angle, and range. From these tracks it then produces angle-error feedback signals that command the IH gimbals, keeping targets centered along the antenna boresight. Over three years, a new Seeker Computer was built to replace an old system constrained by obsolete hardware. The redevelopment project was a team effort and this thesis presents a systems-level analysis of the design process, the new Seeker Computer system, and the related team and individual contributions to software and digital signal processing research that took place during development.