Page 155 - ITU Journal Future and evolving technologies – Volume 2 (2021), Issue 2

ITU Journal on Future and Evolving Technologies, Volume 2 (2021), Issue 2

Mesh
element
r 3

Fig. 2 – A mesh element is created by laser beams from two sources. The divergence of the laser beams along the direction of propagation is also shown.
The divergence of the laser beams is considered small resulting in approximately the same beam radius along the direction of propagation.

• We can achieve Simultaneous Detection, Classi ica‑ • Generally, a single radar cannot perform all the tasks
tion, Localization, and Tracking (SDCLT) using our related to an aerial target. For example, there are
approach with high accuracy and without any signif‑ separate search, tracking, and ire‑control radar sys‑
icant complexity. For radar systems, SDCLT requires tems. These radar systems require networking for
complex operations and accuracy depends on the re‑ a combined response. The networking is vulnerable
lected energy that can be manipulated by the target. to failures, jamming, and delays. Our proposed laser
mesh setup provides a single front‑end for detection,
• The common countermeasure for engaging incom‑ tracking, classi ication, and ire‑control guidance.
ing aerial targets mainly consists of iring projectiles
towards the incoming aerial object. The intercep‑ • Radar systems are more vulnerable to mechanical
tion procedure is highly complicated and requires and electronic jamming compared to our proposed
constant tracking of the aerial object from multiple approach.
sources. However, using the proposed setup, the in‑
terception procedure can be signi icantly simpli ied. • The performance of a particular radar system de‑
pends on the terrain. For example, the performance
• The range resolution of traditional radar systems has of a particular radar system is different in a hilly area
a trade‑off with the detection range [16]. Similarly, compared to an urban area. In comparison, our pro‑
the angular resolution has a trade‑off with the in‑ posed approach is independent of the terrain.
stantaneous ield of view of the radar system. On the
other hand, for our proposed approach, the resolu‑

tion of the target depends only on the density of the The rest of the paper is organized as follows: The pro‑
laser beams. posed laser mesh setup is provided in Section 2; Section 3
discusses the detection of a target; the classi ication fea‑
• The main information of a target obtained by a radar tures of a target are provided in Section 4; Section 5 pro‑
system is its RCS. The accurate determination of the vides classi ication, localization, and tracking of a target;
RCS of a target is important for the classi ication of the limitations of the proposed approach are discussed in
modern aerial threats. The RCS of a target depends Section 6; the simulation results are provided in Section 7,
on many factors e.g., frequency of the radar system, and Section 8 concludes the paper.
angle of illumination, and physical properties of the
target. Therefore, the RCS of a target varies during
measurements. No RCS variations are present using 2. PROPOSED LASER MESH SETUP
our approach.

In this section, the details of the laser mesh setup and

• The RXs of modern radar systems are complex and laser mesh steering are provided.
expensive. The complexity is mainly due to process‑
ing of the 1) weak received echoes, 2) range and 2.1 Mesh of laser beams

Doppler ambiguities, 3) clutter rejection, and 4) ind‑

ing the precise position of the target in the azimuth Laser is a concentrated beam of light obtained through
stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation [17].
and elevation planes. In comparison, no complex
processing is required at the RXs of our approach.
The RX components of our proposed approach are
also simple and inexpensive.
© International Telecommunication Union, 2021 141