Variable Dwell Time Task Scheduling for Multifunction Radar

Efficient utilization of resources is an important issue in the operation of modern radar systems. This paper develops a generalized framework for the radar task scheduling problem as an optimization model. In the proposed method, all radar task parameters are treated as variables, thereby allowing greater scheduling flexibility and the ability to handle more targets using a single radar. An efficient heuristic scheduling method is also proposed and computational results are presented to asses the performance of the proposed method. Note to Practitioners - This paper deals with scheduling a sequence of tasks for a radar system in a limited time-window. Previous work in the literature has addressed this problem by modeling each task as having a fixed duration. In an earlier paper of one of the authors, the task duration was modeled as a variable, which allowed for some flexibility in the task duration, enabling enhanced utilization of the radar timeline. However, a simplified radar task model was used that did not account for the internal structure of a radar task. This work adds a practical dimension by further extending the radar task model to allow for some flexibility in the task duration and also explicitly account for the internal structure of the task. It is shown that utilization of the radar timeline can be thus enhanced through monitoring the interplay of adjusting the dwell times of the internal components of a task.