Ballistic Projectile Tracking Using CW Doppler Radar

The theory of operation is presented, together with experimental results, of a projectile target scoring system that determines highly accurate hit locations of small arms fire by processing constant frequency CW radar Doppler phase content into a trajectory estimate. We describe a new algorithm for extracting trajectory parameters from Doppler time series to obtain time, distance, and velocity at closest approach. Vector trajectories are derived by combining multiple scalar trajectories from three radar units. Live fire test results from a local range and Aberdeen Proving Ground are provided to show that a hit location accuracy of 4 cm can be achieved reliably on small arms.