DPSS Radar Research Topics
2 December 2010
Leon Staphorst
Principle Researcher
Radar and Electronic Warfare
Defence, Peace, Safety and Security
Presentation outline
Slide 2 of 41
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Team and current research topics
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Overview of potential research topics
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Questions and discussion
© CSIR 2009
www.csir.co.za
Presentation outline
Slide 3 of 41

Team and current research topics

Overview of potential research topics

Questions and discussion
© CSIR 2009
www.csir.co.za
Team and current research topics (1)
• Radar at DPSS consists of two research groups:
o Radar Experimental Design
o Radar Research and Applications
• What do we do:
o Radar Innovation:
Develop radar concepts
Develop radar algorithms and techniques
Partner with industry
Aligned to R&D thrusts
o Radar Knowledgeable Services:
Gripen Radar Acquisition Support
Gripen Radar Performance Modelling for Tactics Development
Frigate Radar ECCM Evaluation
Navy Patrol Vessel Radar Acquisition Support
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Team and current research topics (2)
o Utilise advanced radar facilities:
Experiment with real world data
Real time demonstration of developed techniques
Develop advanced radar concept demonstrators
New systems
New modes for existing facilities
o Persistent Ubiquitous Surveillance R&D thrust:
Wide area surveillance with rich information
Detect small, difficult to see targets
Classify targets
Fusion with other sensors
(Electro-optics, Signal Intelligence)
Extract intent of targets
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Presentation outline
Slide 6 of 41

Team and current research topics

Overview of potential research topics

Questions and discussion
© CSIR 2009
www.csir.co.za
Overview of potential research topics (1)
• Topic 1: Classification of airborne/maritime targets using High Range
Resolution (HRR) profiles, High Doppler Resolution (HDR) profiles and/or
inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar (ISAR) images:
Development of a target feature database and a set of robust algorithms that use
HRR profiles, HDR profiles and ISAR images to extract key features for
classification purposes
• Topic 2: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery classification:
Automatically classifying objects of interest, such as roads, fences and
vegetation
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Overview of potential research topics (2)
• Topic 3: Radar Cross Section (RCS) modelling of targets and using
different scattering mechanisms to aid with classification:
Understanding the different types of scattering mechanisms from complex targets
and investigating how this information can be used to aid with classification
• Topic 4: Characterization of
Doppler returns for ground-based radar:
Modelling and/or characterization of Doppler returns from animals and vegetation
in order to distinguish various characteristics of targets based on long dwell-time
Doppler measurements
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Overview of potential research topics (3)
• Topic 5: An investigation of the appearance of different Electromagnetic
(EM) scattering mechanisms in radar imaging techniques such as SAR and
ISAR:
Investigate the appearance of more realistic EM scattering as observed through
SAR and/or ISAR processing in order to qualify the artefacts produced, as well
as identifying methods to improve the integration gain for non-point-target-like
scattering.
• Topic 6: Analysis of the correlations between ship motion (dynamics) and
sea conditions as a function of ship size and shape
Investigate whether motion data measured by a radar can be coupled to physical
parameters of a ship
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Overview of potential research topics (4)
• Topic 7: Multiple scatterer tracking and parameter estimation in HRR profile
data:
Tackling the problem of tracking individual scatterers and possibly matching them
to scatterer models, which is the next step in solving the single aperture 3D ISAR
problem
• Topic 8: Optimisation of automated decision making for radar waveform
and antenna control of mechanically scanned radars:
Study into techniques for jointly controlling a mechanically scanned radar’s beam
and waveform with the aim of optimising detection, tracking and classification
performance jointly
• Topic 9: Model matching of moving objects to their u-Doppler spectrum :
Develop a model based approach to target classification with the idea of also
being able to reconstruct object behaviour
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Overview of potential research topics (5)
• Topic 10: The use of radar to detect rock falls in mines:
Can a radar help with the problem of early detection of cracks in a mine roof
structure ?
• Topic 11: Design of an urban (possibly low frequency) ground-based SAR
for imaging and mapping informal rural areas:
Develop a cheap way of mapping rural areas
• Topic 12: Comparison of traditional phased array and MIMO radars:
Investigate performance trade-offs between classic phased array radars and
MIMO radars
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Overview of potential research topics (6)
• Topic 13: Comparison of Classification Fusion techniques (textual based
fusion):
Investigate Dempster-Schaefer vs. Bayesian approaches
• Topic 14: Improving Track Fusion:
Improvement through the use of classification information
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Presentation outline
Slide 13 of 41

Team and current research topics

Overview of potential research topics

Questions and discussion
© CSIR 2009
www.csir.co.za
Questions and discussions
Any questions or comments can be sent to:
Leon Staphorst
Email: lstaphorst@csir.co.za
Tel: +27 12 841 3236
Cell: +27 82 857 1135
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