Research on dynamic RCS characteristics of ballistic missile with micro-motion

Analyzing the measurements of Radar Cross Section (RCS) characteristics is an effective and important method in the non-cooperative target detection, such as the ballistic missiles. However we should not ignore target fluctuation and should obtain dynamic RCS measurements for the targets over appropriate aspect angle regions. In this paper the geometric model of a precessing conical warhead in flight is built. Based on that the static RCS of a ballistic missile warhead is predicted by analytical techniques. The dynamic RCS measurements is simulated by modeling the fluctuation as multiplicative noise with log-normal distribution. An actual measurements of a helicopter in flight is displayed to verify the simulated RCS measurements. The difference between static and dynamic RCS characteristics for detection are analyzed. The results show necessity of taking the target fluctuation (scintillation) effect into account in dynamic RCS signal simulations.