Novel PRF schedules for medium PRF radar

Previous work has demonstrated that evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are an effective tool for the selection of optimal pulse repetition frequency (PRF) sets to minimise range-Doppler blindness of a medium PRF radar. This paper reconsiders the concepts of decodability in medium PRF radar, and how new and novel schedules can be generated using an EA. Traditionally, target data is required in a minimum of 3 PRFs (e.g. a 3 of 8 scheme). In this paper, we describe the generation of schedules requiring data in only 2 PRFs. Results are presented for a comparison between schemes requiring target data in two and three PRFs. The results indicate that blindness is minimised in schedules with greater numbers of PRFs and requiring target data in fewer PRFs. The concept of dynamic selection of PRI schedules that are fully decodable and have no blind velocities is outlined and is concluded to be feasible.