Target Height Estimation using Multipath Over
Land
January 2007
Christopher D. Berube, The MITRE Corporation
Paul R. Felcyn, The MITRE Corporation
Dr. Ken Hsu, The MITRE Corporation
James H. Latimer II, The MITRE Corporation
David B. Swanay, The MITRE Corporation
ABSTRACT
Airborne radars often receive more than one report
on airborne targets due to what is called multipath. Multipath is
merely a second, and sometimes third, radar report at a greater
range than the actual target. The multipath reports are due to
reflections from the earth, and if the location and altitude of the
point of reflection is known, the altitude of the target can usually
be estimated with good accuracy. This concept is nothing new,
and it is believed it may already be employed for operation over
water by other systems. The Airborne Warning and Control
System (AWACS) radar has never utilized multipath for height
finding because it operates a substantial part of the time over
land, and no algorithms for multipath height finding over land
were available. More recently, availability of Digital Terrain
Elevation Data (DTED) and improvements to the AWACS radar
have prompted an investigation into the possibility of adding this
capability. The result of this work, we believe, is the first known
solution for using multipath radar reports over land to determine
target altitude.
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