Performance evaluation of a Hierarchical Radar Signal Processor and tracker using measures of performance and measures of effectiveness

This paper presents a systematic methodology that rates the effectiveness of each tracker configuration or signal processing algorithm in a radar system. The approach uses a linear additive model for aggregating selected Measures of Performance (MOP) with the relative importance of each MOP determined through the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). With the aggregate MOP score, track pairings based on an established baseline identifies differences in track data, and obtains the measures of effectiveness (MOE) of the algorithm/configuration being evaluated. The results are used to help determine “Return-on-Investment” in implementing signal processing or tracker parameter changes. Examples are presented that illustrate how this approach has been used to evaluate the performance of both the tracker and the mid-stage processing of a High Frequency Surface Wave Radar (HFSWR) system. The approach however is generic and applicable to evaluating updates to the signal processing schema or tracker of any radar system.