Resolution of ambiguous radar measurements using a floating bin correlator

It is pointed out that the Chinese Remainder Theorem (Mooney and Skillman, 1970) can be used to yield unambiguous measurements by comparing outputs allocated to fixed integer number bins using integer arithmetic to modulo to the correct bin number. In general, targets straddling two or more bins or the assignment of an incorrect bin number will yield incorrect parameter values. An ambiguity resolution technique using multiple pulse repetition frequency (PRF) data and a sliding floating point window or 'floating bin' to correlate ambiguous centroided Doppler measurements is proposed. An advantage of the technique is that false targets are much less prevalent than in classical techniques. What is more, the same technique may be employed to resolve ambiguous range wherein centroided range measurements are moduloed with the pulse repetition interval associated with each PRF. Results demonstrate that this method is better than conventional approaches in that the number of false targets produced is significantly lower while simultaneoulsy providing a high probability of correlation. In addition, the correlation can be effected in real time.