Micro-Doppler period estimation from ballistic targets with precession

Radar micro-Doppler (m-D) signatures for target recognition have received increasing attention among the radar community. Since warheads, decoys and debris have unique m-D signatures, m-D parameter estimation has great potential in ballistic missile defense (BMD) applications. In the case of ballistic targets (BTs) with rapid precession, the conventionally sinusoidal modulation of m-D effect is disturbed by the sliding-type scattering. Thus, extraction of micro-motion signatures based on the sinusoidal form of time-frequency representation (TFR) may become difficult. In this paper, the circular average magnitude difference (CAMD) coefficients are employed to provide an estimation of the precession period due to the periodicity of TFR. Effectiveness of the proposed estimation method is demonstrated by the simulation data.