New results on convoy tracking by airborne radar. Part II: Tracking performance

This paper deals with tracking of convoys by airborne radar. In [1, 2] a technique was presented to estimate the lateral length component of a convoy. In combination with the conventional range measurement, the full length information can be obtained in case of a linear convoy. The BAYES tracking algorithm presented in [1], which incorporates the length information, is now extended to multiple targets and also handles Doppler measurements. Here we present first numerical results.

I. Introduction

The main goal of GMTI tracking is to have precise and continuous tracks of all objects of interest in the field of view of an airborne sensor. But under realistic conditions, in general there are many factors leading to imprecise tracks or even track losses, e.g. •

low visibility,

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high clutter and high target densities,

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topographic obscurations (hills, tunnels),

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complex target dynamics (move-stop-move behavior, Doppler blindness).