The Development From Adaptive to Cognitive Radar Resource Management

This article has presented a walk along the cognitive spectrum in the context of radar resource management. It has shown how radar resource management techniques, developed over the last decades, have focused on increasing the complexity of perception-action cycles in order to increase the operational performance of the radar. These techniques can be built upon in the context of cognitive radar, for example, through mission-oriented QoS management or stochastic control. Although basic perception-action cycles exist in operational radars, there are a number of challenges and drawbacks that must be considered before a high level of cognition can be deployed. Care should be taken in the drive toward cognitive radars, as the ultimate goal is not to have a cognitive radar for the sake of being cognitive, but to increase the radar functionality and operational performance