Novel adaptive digital signal processing algorithm for a stationary reticle seeker

Conventional stationary reticle seeker uses an analog signal processing tec hnology to extract a target position in the field of view. The analog techn ology is optimized for only frequency modulation signals, which makes it di fficult to use various and adaptive signal processing, and causes the perfo rmance limit of the conventional technology. We propose a novel adaptive di gital signal processing algorithm to overcome the performance limit. The pr oposed algorithm classifies the modulation signals into the FM and FM/AM si gnals and applies a different signal processing algorithm, which is optimiz ed for the modulation characteristics of each signal. The algorithm also em ploys an adaptive clipping level to minimize the noise effect. Our simulati on results show that the proposed algorithm is superior to the conventional one in terms of the linearity of the static gain curve, tracking performan ce, and robustness against noise. (C) 2000 Society of Photo-Optical Instrum entation Engineers. [S0091-3286(00)02510-1].