Track classification in a naval defence radar using fuzzy logic

The track extractor for a naval defence radar must be capable of the early formation of tracks on small radar cross section targets against a background of clutter (e.g. tracks on sea skimming missiles); other targets of interest may be aircraft or ships. A radar that is sensitive enough to detect small RCS targets will, as a consequence, return plots from a wide variety of clutter sources, such as land, sea and birds. A track extractor that provides early target detection on weak targets, combined with a very low false track rate from the uncorrelated clutter and noise, will still be left with a track picture containing targets such as birds that, while perfectly genuine, are unwanted by a weapons system or display. This paper describes and demonstrates a method, using fuzzy logic, of identifying the type of each track, in order to suppress the output of these unwanted tracks. It illustrates the process by considering the identification of unwanted bird tracks