Comparison of various elevation angle estimation techniques
Summary
The angular resolution and tracking of closely spaced targets is a classical radar problem which is receiving increased attention, and terrain multipath (e.g., reflections) has long been recognized to be a principal limitation on the achievable accuracy of radar elevation trackers at low elevation angles. A variety of techniques have been proposed for improved elevation angle estimation: however, comparative analysis based on field comparable data has not been available to date. In this paper, distributions of multipath scattered power, described in a companion paper, are used to compare several elevation angle estimation techniques: (1) conventional monopulse; (2) off-boresight monopulse; (3) double null monopulse; (4) single edge processing as is used for flare processing in the Microwave Landing System; and (5) a maximum entropy technique based estimator.