Approach to multifunction radar tracker design

Multifunction radar (MFR) single-target tracking is the set of operations aiming towards (i) the calculation of an improved estimate of the target´s actual position and dynamics and (ii) the production of an estimate of the target´s future position (prediction), where the beam will be pointed and a range gate opened. A new approach to optimally select both the energy of the tracking waveforms and the track sampling rates which jointly minimize occupancy and satisfy angular accuracy requirements for a MFR is presented. The design process is illustrated for a particular case-study system. The results suggest that the radar´s energy should be managed as a function of target´s size and range so as to obtain a SNR as close as possible to its optimal value.