Title

Target tracking in multipath and glint environments and adaptive radar scheduling

Date of Completion

January 1996

Keywords

Engineering, Aerospace|Engineering, Electronics and Electrical

Degree

Ph.D.

Abstract

Some practical problems encountered with target tracking are studied in this research. In particular, the objective of this research is to develop algorithms and techniques for target tracking in three cases: (1) tracking of low elevation targets with a monopulse radar in the presence of multipath propagation, (2) target tracking when the measurements are perturbed by glint noise and (3) tracking of highly maneuvering targets. The Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) estimator, which is an efficient algorithm for estimation in hybrid dynamic systems, is used extensively. Furthermore, the theory of the IMM algorithm is extended by developing a layered structure (LIMM) that is able to handle dynamic systems with multiple sets of modes and yields some computations savings compared to a standard IMM.^ This dissertation consists of three parts. The first part is devoted to tracking in the presence of multipath propagation. The effects of multipath (particularly, those due to reflections from a sea surface) are studied. A method is developed to reduce the large effort and compensate for the bias caused by multipath.^ In the second part of this dissertation, the problem of handling multiple types of discrete uncertainties (modes) in a dynamic system is addressed. Tracking maneuvering targets in the presence of glint noise is an example of such hybrid system in which two sets of modes (maneuver/no maneuver and glint/no glint) exist. It is shown how an Interacting Multiple Model (IMM) estimator can be designed for such systems. Furthermore, it is shown that by doing the mixing step of the IMM in a number of layered stages, it is possible to achieve some computational savings as compared to the standard IMM. The glint noise is studied in detail in this part and the IMM and LIMM algorithms are employed for tracking non-maneuvering and maneuvering targets in the presence of glint noise, respectively.^ Finally, the last part of this dissertation is devoted to the design and performance evaluation of the IMM estimator for a given benchmark problem of highly maneuvering targets. An algorithm is developed that recursively estimates the target state, controls the radar beam pointing and selects the next revisit (dwell) time for the radar (radar scheduling). ^

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