Adaptive air-to-air target tracking in severe jamming environment

In the presence of jamming, the task of tracking targets using adaptive phased array radars raises challenges for both signal processing and tracking algorithms. While algorithms for deep nulling of jammers, such as adaptive beamforming, are well-known, tracking algorithms still have to face the problem of the jammer notch, where targets are barely visible (for the antenna) due to jamming interference and/or adaptive jammer suppression. On top of that, tracking algorithms have to cope with inaccurate predictions and large bias of measurements, possibly leading to track instabilities culminating in track loss. This paper deals with the problem of maintaining a track for a single target in severe jamming environment. We present different stabilization measures to improve track stability and track continuity (e.g., avoidance of antenna look directions in the jammer notch, usage of pseudo-measurements to maintain the track file if the predicted target direction is in the jammer notch, etc.). In this context, the most accurate modeling of angle measurement uncertainties plays a decisive role. Simulation results demonstrate significant improvements of tracking performance.