JP2011112494A - Automatic tracking radar device and automatic tracking method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic tracking radar device capable of tracking with a tracking loop having a narrow noise bandwidth, and improving an S/N ratio which is a tracking limit. <P>SOLUTION: In this automatic tracking radar device for tracking automatically a flying object such as a rocket or a space debris, control information of an antenna directional angle and control information of reception timing which are generated respectively by an antenna tracking loop filter 18 and a distance tracking loop filter 25 based on an antenna directional error and a distance error detected by an antenna directional error detector 16 and an integrator 17 for an antenna direction tracking system loop, and a distance error detector 23 and an integrator 24 for a distance tracking system loop, after tracking initially the flying object and moving into an automatic tracking mode, are further corrected by using foreseen information which is a predicted value based on an orbit predicted value of the flying object, tracking information by another radar device or past tracking data by a foreseen information (angular velocity, each acceleration) adder 27, a foreseen information (velocity, acceleration) adder 26. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an automatic tracking radar device and an automatic tracking method, and more particularly to a rocket and a space debris (Space debris).
The present invention relates to an automatic tracking radar apparatus and an automatic tracking method that can be suitably applied to a radar system and a satellite ground station system as an automatic tracking radar apparatus and an automatic tracking method for tracking a high-speed flying object such as Debris.

  A tracking radar device that targets high-speed flying objects such as rockets and space debris is also described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-19984 “Target Observation Radar Device and Target Tracking Method” of Patent Document 1. As described above, foreseeing information such as orbit prediction values of the high-speed flying object, tracking information of other radar devices, and prediction values based on past tracking data is used for initial acquisition of antenna pointing accuracy and distance. .

  The current antenna directivity tracking and distance tracking loop will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing a device configuration of the current automatic tracking radar device. In the current automatic tracking radar apparatus shown in FIG. 2, first, the operation at the time of initial acquisition in the antenna pointing tracking system is set in the pointing angle controller 19 for prediction information (angle) and operates in an open loop. After the initial target acquisition is completed, the output of the directivity angle controller 19 is switched to the output of the antenna tracking loop filter 18 by the switch SW20, and the automatic tracking mode is entered. After shifting to the automatic tracking mode, the antenna driving device 21, the transmission / reception antenna 14, the receiver 15, the antenna pointing error detector 16, the integrator 17, and the antenna tracking loop filter 18 are set so that the antenna pointing error becomes “0”. And a loop circuit are formed, the antenna directivity error is fed back, and control information for controlling the directivity angle of the transmission / reception antenna 14 is generated, which operates in a closed loop.

  Similarly, the operation at the time of initial acquisition in the distance tracking system operates in an open loop by setting foreseeing information (distance) in the reception timing generator 22. After the initial acquisition of the target is completed, the automatic tracking mode is entered. After the transition to the automatic tracking mode, a loop circuit is formed with the receiver 15, the distance error detector 23, the integrator 24, the distance tracking loop filter 25, the reception timing generator 22 so that the distance error becomes “0”. Then, the distance error is fed back to generate control information for controlling the reception timing, which operates in a closed loop.

  Here, the current automatic tracking method does not use foreseeing information after completion of the initial acquisition, so it requires a wide noise bandwidth that matches the target speed and angular velocity, and the target acceleration and angular acceleration. Thus, the tracking limit is determined by the speed and angular velocity of the target and the acceleration and angular acceleration of the target.

JP2009-19984 (page 7-8)

  As described above, in the current technology, after the initial acquisition of the target high-speed flying object is completed, the tracking of the high-speed flying object is continued by the automatic tracking function that does not use foreseeing information. It is common to configure a tracking loop with a wide noise bandwidth that matches the velocity and angular velocity, and the acceleration and angular acceleration of the high-speed flying object. That is, it can be said that the tracking limit is restricted by the speed and angular velocity of the target high-speed flying object and the acceleration and angular acceleration of the target high-speed flying object.

  The purpose of the present invention is to extend the tracking limit as described above by using the speed and angular velocity, acceleration, and angular acceleration information included in the foreseeing information to assist the operation of the tracking loop. An object of the present invention is to provide an automatic tracking radar device and an automatic tracking method that enable tracking in a tracking loop with a narrow bandwidth and that can improve the S / N ratio as a tracking limit.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the automatic tracking radar apparatus according to the present invention employs the following characteristic configuration.

  (1) An automatic tracking radar device that automatically tracks a flying object, and after the initial capturing of the flying object and shifting to an automatic tracking mode, the antenna in each of the antenna-oriented tracking system loop and the distance tracking system loop The antenna pointing angle control information and the reception timing control information calculated from the pointing error and the distance error are predictions based on predicted trajectory values of the flying object, tracking information of other radar devices, or past tracking data. Automatic tracking radar device that corrects using information.

  According to the automatic tracking radar device and the automatic tracking method of the present invention, the antenna directivity angle control information and the reception timing control information obtained for controlling the antenna directivity error and the distance error to '0', respectively, Since foreseeing information (speed and acceleration, angular velocity and angular acceleration) is corrected as auxiliary information, tracking in a tracking loop with a narrow noise bandwidth is possible, and the S / N ratio that is the tracking limit is improved. The following effects can be obtained.

  The first effect is that when the scale (transmission power, antenna diameter, etc.) of the automatic tracking radar device is the same, a larger maximum detection distance as the automatic tracking radar device can be secured.

  The second effect is that when the maximum detection distance of the automatic tracking radar apparatus is the same, the scale (transmission power, antenna diameter, etc.) of the automatic tracking radar apparatus can be further reduced, and the cost can be reduced. There is in being able to.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of the apparatus structure of the automatic tracking radar apparatus by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the apparatus structure of the present automatic tracking radar apparatus.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an automatic tracking radar device and an automatic tracking method according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

(Features of the present invention)
Prior to the description of the embodiments of the present invention, an outline of the features of the present invention will be described first. The present invention relates to a tracking radar device that automatically tracks high-speed flying objects such as rockets and space debris as targets, orbit prediction values of target high-speed flying objects, tracking information of other radar devices, By using the prediction value obtained based on the tracking data, that is, the foreseeing information, and assisting the operation of the antenna-oriented tracking loop and the distance tracking loop, it becomes possible to track in a tracking loop with a narrow noise bandwidth, and becomes a tracking limit. It is characterized in that the S / N ratio can be improved.

  That is, the present invention uses the target velocity, angular velocity, acceleration, and angular acceleration information included in the foreseeing information as auxiliary information to assist the operations of the antenna pointing tracking loop and the distance tracking loop. It is a feature.

  More specifically, the target velocity and angular velocity, acceleration and angular acceleration are extracted from the foreseeing information, and further, if necessary, higher-level information is used to obtain velocity and acceleration information. Thus, the control information of the reception timing in the distance tracking loop is corrected. On the other hand, the control information of the antenna directivity angle in the antenna angle tracking system loop is corrected based on the information on the angular velocity and the angular acceleration.

  Here, when the foreseeing information is completely accurate, the target can be accurately tracked without operating the tracking loop. However, since the prediction information actually includes an error, the tracking loop operates to correct the error of the prediction information. Further, the tracking loop only needs to have responsiveness for correcting the error, and the noise bandwidth can be narrowed.

  As a specific operation, the S / N ratio can be improved by extending the time by integrating the error detected by the error detector of the distance and the antenna directivity angle within a range in which responsiveness can be ensured. In other words, the noise bandwidth of the loop can be reduced.

  As described above, in the automatic tracking method using foreseeing information as auxiliary information, a small error in the foreseeing information is a key for enhancing the effect. In general, the prediction accuracy of the speed and acceleration of the target is often high, so even such a method can be effectively operated as a method for improving the S / N ratio that becomes a tracking limit. .

(Embodiment of the present invention)
Next, an example of the configuration of an automatic tracking radar apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the device configuration of an automatic tracking radar device according to the present invention, and a rocket tracking radar device and a space debris tracking radar device for automatically tracking a high-speed flying object such as a rocket or space debris. It can apply suitably as.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in order to track a high-speed flying object 11 such as a rocket or space debris, an automatic tracking radar apparatus includes a transmission timing generator 12, a transmission signal generator 13, a transmission / reception antenna 14, a receiver 15, and an antenna. Pointing error detector 16, integrator 17, antenna tracking loop filter 18, pointing angle controller 19, switch SW20, antenna driving device 21, reception timing generator 22, distance error detector 23, integrator 24, distance tracking loop filter 25, at least a preview information (speed, acceleration) adder 26 and a preview information (angular velocity, angular acceleration) adder 27 are included.

  In other words, the automatic tracking radar apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has foreseeing information (in addition to the current automatic tracking radar apparatus shown in FIG. 2) for correcting the control information for the reception timing generated based on the distance error ( (Speed, acceleration) adder 26 and foreseeing information (angular velocity, angular acceleration) adder 27 for correcting the control information for the antenna directivity angle generated based on the antenna directivity error are added.

(Description of operation of embodiment)
Next, an example of the operation of the high-speed flying object tracking radar apparatus shown in FIG. 1 will be described. The basic operation of the automatic tracking radar apparatus is to transmit a transmission signal from the transmission / reception antenna 14 to the high-speed flying object 11 such as a rocket or space debris. When the high-speed flying object 11 is a rocket, antenna directivity tracking is performed by receiving the signal transmitted from the transmitter of the rocket by the transmission / reception antenna 14, and the delay time between the transmission signal and the reception signal is measured. To measure distance (referred to as secondary radar mode).

  When the high-speed flying object 11 is a space debris or the like, the antenna pointing is performed by receiving the reflected wave of the signal transmitted from the transmission / reception antenna 14 by the transmission / reception antenna 14, and the delay time between the transmission signal and the reflected wave is measured. Is measured by measuring (referred to as a primary radar mode).

  As a specific operation, in the antenna pointing tracking system, first, foreseeing information (angle) is set in the pointing angle controller 19 and output to the antenna driving device 21. As a result, the preview information (angle) is output as control information from the antenna driving device 21 to the transmission / reception antenna 14, and the transmission / reception antenna 14 is driven based on the prediction information (angle).

  At the same time, as a signal transmission system, the transmission timing generator 12 generates a transmission timing signal, the transmission timing signal is input, the transmission signal generator 13 generates a transmission signal, and the prediction information (angle The signal is transmitted from the transmitting / receiving antenna 14 driven based on the above to the high-speed flying object 11.

  Similarly, also in the distance tracking system, by setting prediction information (distance) in the reception timing generator 22, reception timing is generated and output to the receiver 15.

  Thereafter, the transmission / reception antenna 14 receives a transmission signal from the rocket or a reflected wave from the space debris or the like, and initially captures the target rocket or space debris. Until the initial acquisition of the target is completed, the antenna pointing tracking system and the distance tracking system operate in an open loop based on preview information (angle) and preview information (distance), respectively.

  After the initial target acquisition is completed, the mode shifts to the automatic tracking mode, and operates in a closed loop in which the prediction information (angle and distance) set in the directivity angle controller 19 and the reception timing generator 22 is not used. That is, in the antenna directivity tracking system, the output of the directivity angle controller 19 is switched to the output of the antenna tracking loop filter 18 by the switch SW20 so that the antenna directivity error becomes “0”. 14, a receiver 15, an antenna pointing error detector 16, an integrator 17, an antenna tracking loop filter 18, a foreseeing information (angular velocity, angular acceleration) adder 27 and a loop circuit are formed, and the antenna pointing error is fed back to transmit / receive The operation is to generate control information for controlling the directivity angle of the antenna 14 and operates in a closed loop.

  On the other hand, in the distance tracking system, the receiver 15, the distance error detector 23, the integrator 24, the distance tracking loop filter 25, the foreseeing information (speed, acceleration) adder 26, so that the distance error becomes “0”. A loop circuit is formed with the reception timing generator 22, and a distance error is fed back to generate control information for controlling the reception timing created by the reception timing generator 22, which operates in a closed loop.

  Here, in the operation at the time of automatic tracking, the transmission system transmits a transmission signal to the target based on the transmission timing generated by the transmission timing generator 12 as in the initial acquisition.

  In the antenna-directed tracking system loop, the reception timing generated by the reception timing generator 22 is input to the receiver 15, and the transmission signal from the rocket or the reflected wave from the space debris is received at the reception timing. The machine 15 performs correlation processing and peak detection of the received signal. Thereafter, the output of the receiver 15 is input to the antenna pointing error detector 16 to calculate the antenna pointing error, and the integrator 17 performs integration processing for a predetermined period. The antenna pointing error after integration by the integrator 17 is input to the antenna tracking loop filter 18 to generate angular velocity and angular acceleration control information for controlling the antenna pointing error to “0”.

  In the automatic tracking mode, the switch SW20 automatically switches the output of the directivity angle controller 19 to the output of the antenna tracking loop filter 18, and the angular velocity and angular acceleration generated by the antenna tracking loop filter 18 are controlled. In addition to the information, the target prediction information (as a correction process based on the predicted value of the target high-speed flying object, the tracking information of other radar devices, the prediction value obtained based on the past tracking data, that is, the prediction information) (Angular velocity, angular acceleration) are added by the foreseeing information adder 27 to narrow the noise bandwidth.

  The angular velocity and angular acceleration control information obtained by adding the foreseeing information (angular velocity and angular acceleration) by the foreseeing information adder 27 is input to the antenna driving device 21 as antenna directivity angle control information. The antenna driving device 21 outputs the received antenna directivity angle control information to the transmission / reception antenna 14 to drive the antenna.

  On the other hand, in the distance tracking loop, the reception timing generated by the reception timing generator 22 is input to the receiver 15, and the transmission signal from the rocket or the reflected wave from the space debris is received at the reception timing. The receiver 15 performs correlation processing and peak detection of the received signal. Thereafter, the output of the receiver 15 and the transmission timing signal from the transmission timing generator 12 are input to the distance error detector 23, the distance error is detected, and the integrator 17 integrates for a predetermined period. Process. The distance error after integration by the integrator 17 is input to the distance tracking loop filter 25, and speed and acceleration control information for controlling the distance error to “0” is generated.

  Thereafter, the speed and acceleration control information generated by the distance tracking loop filter 25 is obtained based on the trajectory prediction value of the target high-speed flying object, the tracking information of other radar devices, and the past tracking data. As a correction process using the predicted value, that is, the prediction information, the prediction information (speed, acceleration) of the target is added by the prediction information adder 26 to narrow the noise bandwidth.

  The speed and acceleration control information obtained by adding the preview information (speed and acceleration) by the preview information adder 26 is input to the reception timing generator 22. The reception timing generator 22 performs distance tracking by changing the reception timing based on the received speed and acceleration control information and outputting it to the receiver 15.

  Note that the distance tracking system is controlled so that the foreseeing information (distance) is set in the reception timing generator 22 only at the time of initial acquisition, as in the antenna-oriented tracking system.

(Description of the effect of this embodiment)
As described above, in the present embodiment, the antenna directivity angle control information and the reception timing control information obtained for controlling the antenna directivity error and the distance error to “0”, respectively, are further provided as preview information. Since (speed and acceleration, angular velocity and angular acceleration) are corrected as auxiliary information, tracking in a tracking loop with a narrow noise bandwidth is possible, and the S / N ratio which is a tracking limit can be improved. And effects as described below can be obtained.

  The first effect is that when the scale (transmission power, antenna diameter, etc.) of the automatic tracking radar device is the same, a larger maximum detection distance as the automatic tracking radar device can be secured.

  The second effect is that when the maximum detection distance of the automatic tracking radar apparatus is the same, the scale (transmission power, antenna diameter, etc.) of the automatic tracking radar apparatus can be further reduced, and the cost can be reduced. There is in being able to.

The configuration of the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. However, it should be noted that such examples are merely illustrative of the invention and do not limit the invention in any way. Those skilled in the art will readily understand that various modifications and changes can be made according to a specific application without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the embodiment of the present invention can be expressed as the following configuration in addition to the configuration (1) in the means for solving the problems.
(2) The antenna directivity error in the antenna directivity tracking system loop uses an integral value obtained by integrating the antenna directivity error obtained from the transmission signal or reflected wave from the flying object for a predetermined period. Automatic tracking radar device.
(3) The antenna directivity angle control signal calculated based on the antenna directivity error is control information related to angular velocity and angular acceleration calculated as a value for setting the antenna directivity error to “0”. The foreseeing information for correcting the angle control signal is related to the flying object's orbital prediction value, the tracking information of other radar devices, or the predicted value based on the past tracking data, and the angular velocity and angular acceleration of the flying object. The automatic tracking radar device according to (1) or (2), which is prediction information.
(4) The distance error in the distance tracking system loop is an integral value obtained by integrating a distance error obtained from a reception signal that is a transmission signal or a reflected wave from the flying object and a transmission timing signal for a predetermined period. The automatic tracking radar device according to any one of (1) to (3) above.
(5) The reception timing control information calculated based on the distance error is control information related to speed and acceleration calculated as a value for setting the distance error to “0”. The foreseeing information for correction is prediction information regarding the speed and acceleration of the flying object obtained from the predicted value of the flying object orbit, the tracking information of other radar devices, or the predicted value based on past tracking data ( 4) Automatic tracking radar device.
(6) An automatic tracking method for automatically tracking a flying object by a radar device, and after the initial acquisition of the flying object and shifting to an automatic tracking mode, an antenna pointing tracking loop and a distance tracking loop respectively The antenna pointing angle control information and the reception timing control information calculated from the antenna pointing error and the distance error in the above are the predicted values based on the trajectory forecast value of the flying object, the tracking information of other radar devices, or the past tracking data. An automatic tracking method that corrects using some foreseeing information.
(7) The antenna directivity error in the antenna directivity tracking loop uses an integral value obtained by integrating the antenna directivity error obtained from the transmission signal or reflected wave from the flying object for a predetermined period. Automatic tracking method.
(8) The antenna directivity angle control signal calculated based on the antenna directivity error is control information related to angular velocity and angular acceleration calculated as a value for setting the antenna directivity error to “0”. The foreseeing information for correcting the angle control signal is related to the flying object's orbital prediction value, the tracking information of other radar devices, or the predicted value based on the past tracking data, and the angular velocity and angular acceleration of the flying object. The automatic tracking method according to (6) or (7), which is prediction information.
(9) The distance error in the distance tracking system loop is an integral value obtained by integrating a distance error obtained from a reception signal that is a transmission signal or a reflected wave from the flying object and a transmission timing signal for a predetermined period. The automatic tracking method according to any one of (6) to (8) above.
(10) The reception timing control information calculated based on the distance error is control information related to speed and acceleration calculated as a value for setting the distance error to “0”. The foreseeing information for correction is prediction information regarding the speed and acceleration of the flying object obtained from the predicted value of the flying object orbit, the tracking information of other radar devices, or the predicted value based on past tracking data ( 9) Automatic tracking method.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 High-speed flying object 12 Transmission timing generator 13 Transmission signal generator 14 Transmission / reception antenna 15 Receiver 16 Antenna pointing error detector 17 Integrator 18 Antenna tracking loop filter 19 Direction angle controller 20 Switch SW
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 21 Antenna drive device 22 Reception timing generator 23 Distance error detector 24 Integrator 25 Distance tracking loop filter 26 Preview information (speed, acceleration) adder 27 Preview information (angular velocity, angular acceleration) adder

Claims (10)

  An automatic tracking radar device that automatically tracks a flying object, after initial capturing of the flying object and shifting to an automatic tracking mode, an antenna pointing error and an antenna pointing error in each of an antenna pointing tracking loop and a distance tracking loop The antenna pointing angle control information and the reception timing control information calculated from the distance error are used as the trajectory prediction value of the flying object, the tracking information of another radar device, or prediction information that is a prediction value based on past tracking data. Automatic tracking radar device characterized in that correction is performed.   The antenna directivity error in the antenna directivity tracking loop uses an integrated value obtained by integrating an antenna directivity error obtained from a transmission signal or reflected wave from the flying object for a predetermined period. The automatic tracking radar device according to 1.   The antenna directivity angle control signal calculated based on the antenna directivity error is control information relating to angular velocity and angular acceleration calculated as a value that makes the antenna directivity error “0”, and controls the antenna directivity angle. The foreseeing information for correcting the signal is prediction information related to the flying object's orbital prediction value, an angular velocity of the flying object, and an angular acceleration obtained from a prediction value based on tracking information of another radar device or past tracking data. The automatic tracking radar apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the automatic tracking radar apparatus is provided.   The distance error in the distance tracking system loop is obtained by using an integral value obtained by integrating a distance error obtained from a reception signal that is a transmission signal or a reflected wave from the flying object and a transmission timing signal for a predetermined period. The automatic tracking radar device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein   The reception timing control information calculated based on the distance error is control information related to speed and acceleration calculated as a value for setting the distance error to “0”, in order to correct the reception timing control information. The foreseeing information is prediction information regarding the speed and acceleration of the flying object obtained from a predicted trajectory value of the flying object, tracking information of another radar device, or a predicted value based on past tracking data. The automatic tracking radar device according to claim 4.   An automatic tracking method for automatically tracking a flying object by a radar device, wherein after the initial acquisition of the flying object and shifting to an automatic tracking mode, the antenna pointing in each of an antenna pointing tracking system loop and a distance tracking system loop Predictive information which is control information of antenna pointing angle and reception timing calculated from error and distance error is predicted value based on orbit prediction value of the flying object, tracking information of other radar devices or past tracking data An automatic tracking method characterized by correcting using the   The antenna directivity error in the antenna directivity tracking loop uses an integrated value obtained by integrating an antenna directivity error obtained from a transmission signal or reflected wave from the flying object for a predetermined period. 6. The automatic tracking method according to 6.   The antenna directivity angle control signal calculated based on the antenna directivity error is control information relating to angular velocity and angular acceleration calculated as a value that makes the antenna directivity error “0”, and controls the antenna directivity angle. The foreseeing information for correcting the signal is prediction information related to the flying object's orbital prediction value, an angular velocity of the flying object, and an angular acceleration obtained from a prediction value based on tracking information of another radar device or past tracking data. The automatic tracking method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein there is an automatic tracking method.   The distance error in the distance tracking system loop is obtained by using an integral value obtained by integrating a distance error obtained from a reception signal that is a transmission signal or a reflected wave from the flying object and a transmission timing signal for a predetermined period. 9. The automatic tracking method according to claim 6, wherein the automatic tracking method is performed.   The reception timing control information calculated based on the distance error is control information related to speed and acceleration calculated as a value for setting the distance error to “0”, in order to correct the reception timing control information. The foreseeing information is prediction information regarding the speed and acceleration of the flying object obtained from a predicted trajectory value of the flying object, tracking information of another radar device, or a predicted value based on past tracking data. The automatic tracking method according to claim 9.

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