Abstract: The dynamic scattering properties of a space precession target are studied through measurement experiments in a microwave anechoic chamber. A precession target model is designed based on the structure and the motion characteristics of a warhead in the ballistic midcourse. A dynamic measurement system is constructed in the microwave anechoic chamber, and then a full-polarization wide-band dynamic measurement experiment is conducted via the system. The results of typical conditions are given. That the Doppler shift induced by the precession is observed from the experimental results demonstrates the observability of the micro-Doppler of the precession target by microwave radar. The non-ideal scattering centers caused by the normal structure of the warhead are also observed. The results show that the experiment system can effectively reveal the target properties and the modulation of the echo of the precession target, which are the foundations of the research on the dynamic electromagnetic scattering properties, the geometrical structure retrieval, the extraction of motion parameters and the inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging of the target in ballistic midcourse. The experiment is of significant value to the research of target recognition in ballistic midcourse.

Key words: target recognition, precession, anechoic chambers, micro-Doppler, polarization, wide band