Tracking multiple unresolved Rayleigh targets with a monopulse radar

Abstract

While the problem of tracking multiple targets has been studied extensively in recent years, the issue of finite sensor resolution has been completely ignored in almost all of the studies. In a typical study, the targets are detected in the presence of false alarms and clutter with a given probability of detection and the target measurements are modeled as the true values plus independent, Gaussian errors. However, when two targets are closely spaced with regard to the resolution of the sensor, the measurements from the two targets often are merged or the errors in the measurements are correlated. This issue of tracking unresolved or non-isolated targets is particularly important in monopulse radar systems because the target direction-of- arrival measurements can be severely corrupted when the measurements of two targets are not fully resolved in angle, range, or radial velocity. The tracking of unresolved targets with monopulse radar is addressed with respect to the detection of target multiplicity, the estimation and tracking of the target amplitude, and the measurement update process.