ICSP2006 Proceedings

The Advanced Simulation System for MMW Imaging Radar Seeker onboard
Air-to-air Missile
Sun Yumeng Chen Jie Guo Caihong Sun Bing Zhou Yinqing
Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Beijing 100083, China
Email: sun_ryan1981@yahoo.com.cn

Abstract
Millimeter wave (MMW) radar is booming in
application to target seeker onboard the air-to-air
missile (AAM), which has the capability to obtain
all-weather radar images for auto target recognition
(ATR) and intelligent active homing guidance. An
advanced simulation system for MMW imaging radar
seekers of AAM was introduced in this paper. The system
is composed of parameter initialization module, signal
simulation module and image formation module. It is
capable of investigation and demonstration for system
performance of MMW radar seeker. The modeling of
radar signal and the geometric model for
missile-to-target were presented in particular. The echo
signal for major radar operation modes could be
generated by the system, including high-resolution range
profile (HRRP) mode, doppler beam sharpening (DBS)
mode as well as the high-resolution burst- SAR mode.
The image formation algorithms for each radar
operation mode were integrated in the system to
generate highly accurate radar imagery. Computer
simulation results for an actual aircraft were presented,
which validate the correctness of the simulation system.
It is an advanced tool for the investigation of imaging
algorithms and the optimization of the system parameter
selection, as well as the demonstration of the radar
scenario.
Keywords: Synthetic aperture radar, Air-to-air missile,
Millimeter wave radar, Target seeker, Active homing
guidance.

. Introduction
As an all-weather, compact sensor for air-to-air
missile (AAM), millimeter waves (MMW) radar can
perform homing function in various complex scenes with
narrow beam-width. It is of special importance to
investigate the technique of MMW radar seekers.
At present, the MMW radar seekers for AAM
complete the homing guidance by fast matching
classification for one dimensional high-resolution range
profile (HRRP). The computation load for HRRP is
suitable for missile-borne real-time processor. And the
auto target recognition (ATR) algorithm for HRRP is
relatively mature. But it is quite difficult to distinguish

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0-7803-9737-1/06/$20.00 2006 IEEE

false targets or multiple targets which are adjacent in

range domain with HRRP. Compared to HRRP, 2-D
radar images produced by synthetic aperture radar (SAR),
which could offer more information, can enhance the
capability of target acquisition and recognition of the
seekers greatly but the imaging algorithm and
implementation of air-to-air missile-borne SAR is much
more complicated and need further investigation. In the
absence of real data, an accurate raw data simulation
becomes more significant for the investigation of
imaging algorithm and the optimization of the system
parameter selection, as well as the demonstration of the
radar scenario.
A simulation system of MMW imaging radar seeker
for AAM is presented in this paper. Echo signal of burst
SAR mode, DBS mode and HRRP mode can be
simulated through the system. And radar images of
different modes can be generated by image formation.
The system is very flexible for the users to input
simulation parameters, in order to acquire raw data in
different situations. Integrated with a full graphical
interface, the simulation system provides an interactive
and easy-to-use tool for performance analysis of the
radar system and investigation of image formation
algorithms and ATR techniques.

.Architecture of the Simulation System

The system is mainly composed of parameter
initialization module, echo signal simulation module and
image formation module.
The inputs of the system are provided in three
parameter files. The first file contains movement
parameters of the missile and the target, such as position,
speed and attitude. The second file provides the
parameters of SAR system, such as chirp duration,
bandwidth, pulse repetition frequency, sampling rates
and mode selection. Backscattering characteristic of the
target, which is an important parameter for the
simulation, is contained in the third file. The system can
get the backscattering characteristic of the target from
real SAR images also.
The output of the system consists of the echo signal
and the imaging results. The echo signal of three modes
possibly used for MMW seekers can be simulated in the
system, including HRRP mode, Doppler beam
sharpening (DBS) mode and burst SAR mode. Two
kinds of waveform including frequency modulated
continuous wave (FMCW) and linear FM pulse are

employed in HRRP mode simulation. DBS mode is used

to scan the scenario for target acquisition. Burst SAR
mode is used to form 2-D radar images of high
resolution. Imaging results of different modes are given
by processing the raw data.
Flow chart of the system is presented in Fig.1.

mode is introduced and the method of forming SAR

images with subaperture data was used in the simulation
system. In a short time, the movement of the missile and
the target can approximately be considered as the
uniform motion. This approximation can simplify the
echo signal model[1]. And using subaperture data for
image formation can reduce the time spending for data
processing, which is crucial for the homing guidance and
the missile-borne real-time processor that has to
continuously monitor the reflected target echoes and
calculate the targets angular coordinates and range.
The echo signal S(t) can be expressed by equation
(1).
1

S t 

PtV mGm2 T ,\  O2 2
4S

exp  j Rm (t)

3
4

n 1m 1
 4S  Rm (t)Fop
2R (t)

(1)
rect t  nTprt  m
c

2R (t)

exp  jM t  nTprt  m  n  t 
c

Figure 1. The flow chart of the simulation system

. Simulation Model
A. Modeling of the Radar Signal
The most targets of AAM are aircrafts, such as
fighters, bombers and attackers that are noncooperative
and highly maneuverable. The position, speed and
acceleration of the missile and the target are changing
enormously. During the homing guidance, the MMW
radar mostly works in the forward-looking highly squint
situation due to the geometric relation between the
missiles and the targets. So it is quite difficult to
complete the movement compensation and form SAR
images of high quality. To solve the problem, burst SAR

Where N is number of pulses to be simulated; M is

the number of the scatters from the targets and the
ground terrain; Pt is the maximum radiated power of the
radar; Vm is the radar cross section (RCS) of each scatter;
Gm(T,\) is the antenna gain; T is the elevation angle; \ is
the azimuth angle; O is the wavelength; Rm(t) is the
distance between the scatter and the phase center of
radar antenna; Fop is the system losses; c is the velocity
of light; Tprt is pulse repetition time; Wp is the chirp
duration; M(t)=-Sbt2, is the phase function of the chirp
pulses, and b is the frequency rate; n(t) is the system
noise, whose power can be calculated by kBnTn, where k
is the Boltzmann constant; Bn is the noise bandwidth; Tn
is the noise temperature.
The major parameters of radar system are taken into
account to implement accurate echo signal simulation,
including the radiated power of radar, the system noise
of receiver, the antenna gain, the system losses as well as
the attenuation of slant range. If the relative position
vector R is obtained from the geometric model, the
parameters of Rm(t), T and \ are calculated and the echo
signal can be easily simulated with equation (1). We can
conclude that the critical point of the echo signal
simulation is to provide pulse-by-pulse position of the
missile and the target scatters according to their
movement parameter.

B. Geometric Model of the Missile and the Target

Differ from airborne and spaceborne radar
simulation[2], the platform and the target have more
degrees of freedom in this model, then more
sophisticated relative movement should be simulated.
And the images of the target can fluctuate greatly with
small attitude and squint angle changes. So the attitude

(roll, yaw, pitch) of the missile and the target should be

taken into account.
In order to describe the geometric relation
accurately, four orthogonal coordinates including
antenna coordinate, ground coordinate, target coordinate
and missile coordinate are set in the geometric model as
presented in Fig.2. The position and speed vectors of the
missile and the target can be converted from one
coordinate into another conveniently by multiplying
transfer matrix between each coordinate.

ZM
YA
YM
XM

XA

ZA
ZT

XT

YT

Figure 3. Flow chart of the simulation model

. Image Formation

Figure 2. Coordinate setting

The relative position vector R between the antenna
center and the scatter is
(2)
R = R M + R A + R P + RT
Where RM is the vector between the center of mass of the
AAM and the origin of the ground coordinate; RA is the
vector between the position of the antenna center and the
center of mass of the missile; RP is the vector between
the antenna center and the origin of the target coordinate;
RT is the vector between the origin of the target
coordinate and the scatter.
Then the distance between the antenna center and
every scatter of the target and the range and azimuth off
bore-sight angles can be determined by R, and echo data
of burst mode can be calculated by Eq.3.
The position vector between the antenna center and
the background scatter can be calculated in a similar
way.
Once the position vector between the antenna
center and the scatter is obtained, the echo data of HRRP
mode and DBS mode can be simulated too. The detailed
flow chart of the simulation model is presented in Fig.3.

Under the condition that the movement parameters

of the target are given, the image of HRRP mode can be
formed by range compression and the image of DBS
mode can be formed by range compression and FFT in
azimuth domain.
The air-to-air missile-borne MMW radar mostly
works in the forward-looking highly squint situation, so
the imaging algorithm suitable for SAR mode of
air-to-air missile-borne radar should meet the
requirement of compensating the phase accurately and
implementing the range cell migration correction
(RCMC). There are several imaging algorithms suitable
for subaperture data processing such as improved RD
algorithm, SPECAN algorithm[3], and ECS algorithm[4].
Compared to other algorithms, ECS algorithm has
compact process and smaller computation load. Under
the condition that the movement parameters of the target
are known, slant range images can be formed using ECS
algorithm, but slant range images can not show the real
geometric position of the target. For ATR, geometric
correction is applied and the imaging results are given in
section V.
The movement parameter estimation of target by
processing raw data and other imaging algorithm
suitable for air-to-air missile-borne SAR need further
investigation.

. Computer Simulation
The RCS map of a B-52 bomber is obtained from
high-resolution airborne SAR image. Simulation
parameters of burst SAR mode are listed in Tab.1. The
simulated radar images are illustrated in Fig.4. The
strong scatters of the aircraft are clearly reflected from
the images, which demonstrate the capability and
validation of the simulation system.
Tab.1. Simulation Parameters of Burst SAR mode
Wavelength (m)
0.008
Pulse width (us)
5
Signal bandwidth (MHz)
120
Sampling frequency (MHz)
150
Pulse Repetition Frequency (Hz)
10000
Reference slant range (km)
10
Reference squint angle (degree)
60
Missile velocity (m/s)
1200
Target velocity (m/s)
400

(d)
Figure 4. The imaging results of B-52: (a) HRRP mode
image with resolution 1.25m; (b) DBS mode image with
resolution 3.75u7.6m; (c) burst SAR mode image with
resolution 1.25m u1.33m; (d) 3D vision of the burst
SAR image compared with photo of B-52 bomber.

Conclusion

(a)

An advanced simulation system of MMW imaging

radar seeker for AAM is carried out. Signal model and
geometric model is established. The radar images of
DBS mode, HRRP mode and burst SAR mode can be
simulated by the system. ECS imaging algorithm is used
to form SAR images of high quality. The imaging results
of B-52 are presented for verification of the system. The
simulation system satisfies the requirements for
providing source data for air-to-air missile-borne radar
imaging algorithm and ATR algorithm studies.

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