Precise Time and Frequency Measurement Requirements for Spaceborne Distributed Aperture Technology

Michael S. Kaplan

Abstract:	This paper describes requirements for precision time, frequency, and position measurement for a new research program at the Naval Research Laboratory under the sponsorship of the Strategic Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The purpose of this effort is to study the potential for space borne distributed aperture (SDA) technology to address a variety of military applications. These applications include surveillance, reconnaissance, and electronic warfare, Additionally, this technology could address a number of Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI 1 concerns, e.g., detecting, identifying, tracking, and performing kill assessment on reentry vehicles. This technology differs from conventional approaches, e.g., a monostatic space-based radar (SBR) for aerial surveillance, in that sensor elements are distributed among many space platforms. This approach offers many potential advantages over conventional techniques. For example, in the aforementioned SBR application, a constellation of distinct transmitting and receiving spacecraft forming what can be called a multistatic radar, provides many "look angles" at a target. Additionally, it is possible to coherently combine the inputs from from many receiving spacecraft in order to form a very large distributed aperture, thousands of kilometers in size.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 17th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting December 3 - 5, 1985 DuPont Plaza Hotel Washington, DC
Pages:	19 - 22
Cite this article:	Kaplan, Michael S., "Precise Time and Frequency Measurement Requirements for Spaceborne Distributed Aperture Technology," Proceedings of the 17th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and Applications Meeting, Washington, DC, December 1985, pp. 19-22.
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