Method and apparatus for interleaved gridding in distributed multiple computing for real-time RCS prediction

• US 20090040096A1
• Filed: 08/09/2007
• Published: 02/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Raytheon Company (Rtx Corporation)
• Inventors: Lee, Chul J., Price, Sean T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,646,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/90
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 7/41 using analysis of echo signal for target characterisation; Target signature; Target cross-section

Abstract

Apparatus and method for real-time determination of radar cross sections is disclosed using interleaved gridding. Radar cross section calculations are amenable to an implementation on parallel processors wherein the shooting window is subdivided into smaller areal units that are assigned to the parallel processors in an alternating fashion, such that the calculations performed by a single processor are not localized to a single area of the shooting window.

As further disclosed, the shooting and bouncing ray technique for calculating radar cross sections is implemented using the apparatus and method disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A method for real-time calculation of the radar cross section of an object comprising:

providing a processing system comprising a plurality of parallel-connected processors;

providing a radar transceiver for generating radar signals and receiving reflected radar signals;

defining a shooting window in the sky to be substantially illuminated by the radar signals, with the shooting window having horizontal and vertical axes;

illuminating the shooting window with radar signals;

receiving radar signals reflected by an object within the shooting window;

dividing the shooting window into a plurality of subcells; and

assigning the reflected radar signals received from the plurality of subcells to the processing units such that the assignment of adjacent subcells of the shooting window to the same processor is avoided.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the reflected radar signals are assigned to the plurality of processors based upon the positions of the subcells along the horizontal axis of the shooting window.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the reflected radar signals are assigned to the plurality of processors based upon the positions of the subcells along the vertical axis of the shooting window.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the reflected radar signals are assigned to the plurality of processors based upon the positions of the subcells along the horizontal and vertical axes of the shooting window.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the number of subcells is a whole number multiple greater than 1 of the number of processors

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the reflected radar signals of contiguous subcells are assigned to different processors.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the reflected radar signals of contiguous subcells are assigned to different processors.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of parallel-connected processors comprise a parallel computer.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of parallel-connected processors comprise a plurality of networked computers.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the RCS is calculated using the shooting and bouncing ray technique.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein reflected radar signals are assigned to the plurality of processors based upon the positions of the subcells along the horizontal axis of the shooting window.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the reflected radar signals are assigned to the plurality of processors based upon the positions of the subcells along the vertical axis of the shooting window.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the reflected radar signals are assigned to the plurality of processors based upon the positions of the subcells along the horizontal and vertical axes of the shooting window.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the number of subcells is a whole number multiple greater than 1 of the number of processors

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the reflected radar signals of contiguous subcells are assigned to different processors.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the reflected radar signals of contiguous subcells are assigned to different processors.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of parallel-connected processors comprise a parallel computer.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein said plurality of parallel-connected processors comprise a plurality of networked computers.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the RCS is calculated using the shooting and bouncing ray technique.

11. A system for real-time RCS generation comprising:

a radar transceiver for generating radar signals and receiving radar signals reflected by an object within a predefined shooting window;

a processing system for processing the received reflected radar signals, said processing system comprising a plurality of parallel-connected processors;

wherein said system processes the received reflected radar signals by subdividing the shooting window into a plurality of subcells and assigns the received reflected radar signals to said processors such that contiguous subcells are assigned to different processors.