Examination of Drone Micro-Doppler and JEM/HERM Signatures

Radars monitoring small targets often must increase their integration times to achieve sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for maintaining a viable track. These longer integation times can prevent micro-Doppler signature extraction and instead result in Doppler signatures consisting of spectral lines to the radar's higher-level processing. Whether the radar operates in the micro-Doppler or spectral line regime depends on both radar parameters (e.g. waveforms, wavelengths and integration times) as well as target parameters (e.g. rotor length, rotational frequency, target reflectivity and geometry). Additionally, understanding the transition region between these regimes can further aid target recognition algorithms. This paper uses modelling, simulations and experimental data to refine the understanding of how a particular radar will observe a target Doppler signature in either of these regimes, highlighting the transition region between the two.