A dual-threshold radar detection system

It is known that the beam agility of a phased-array radar can be utilized to enhance target detection capability as compared to a radar which has the same power but which radiates its energy uniformly over the solid angle being surveilled. A dual-threshold approach for realizing this enhancement is examined. Quantitative results are presented parametrically for four signal fluctuation models. The study also identifies the optimum combination of dual-threshold design parameters for each target model under a wide range of imposed system constraints such as the allowed number of false alarms per beam position. It is shown that under certain imposed constraints, no enhancement is possible