Turn Rate Estimation Techniques in IMM Estimators for ESA Radar Tracking

Electronically steered array-antenna (ESA) radars are used to perform multiple roles, such as surveillance and dedicated tracking. The beam positioning agility of ESA radars can be used to efficiently track maneuvering targets. Maneuvers made by targets are often modeled using turn models. The success of using turn models relies on the correct estimation of turn-rate. Various schemes have been proposed in literature for estimation of turn rate. This paper makes a comparative study of turn rate estimation techniques for ESA radar tracking. An adaptive revisit scheme is used for tracking maneuvering targets, using the interacting multiple-model (IMM) approach. Better turn-rate estimation techniques in this adaptive framework can significantly bring down the demand for resources while tracking maneuvering targets. Simulation studies are carried out using the benchmark target trajectories defined for phased array radar tracking. Monte-Carlo simulation results against six maneuvering target scenarios are presented and discussed.