Coupled echoic flow for cognitive radar sensing

Cognitive radar systems must decide on suitable actions based on their perception of the environment: this is the perception-action cycle. Cognitive decision-making is a challenging task and can be made more difficult if the problem is incorrectly framed. In this paper, echoic flow is proposed as the correct frame for autonomous path planning activities. It is shown that echoic flow is a natural output of a radar system and that parameters readily measured by radar are coupled to kinematic parameters controlling platform motion when working with flow fields. The performance of a simulated navigation activity is presented as a function of the signal to noise ratio (SNR). It is shown that, based on single pulse measurements, for SNRs above 20 dB successful path planning is achieved consistently. Techniques to reduce the SNR requirements are discussed.