Scheduling multifunction radar for search and tracking

Modern sensors that are increasingly flexible may be used to schedule various functions. Such sensors typically have competing demands on limited sensor resources such as the sensor timeline. Sensor management systems attempt to meet the overall goal of the sensor user by considering the user's priorities and the capabilities of the sensor. This paper describes an algorithm for scheduling an electronically scanned array radar in order to perform the two functions of (i) searching for new targets and (ii) updating tracks on known targets. A previous formulation considered search theory approaches to determine radar dwell times. This formulation is extended from the search problem to address the tracking or update function for known targets. A key feature of the scheduling formulation permits the sensor user to specify the costs of not detecting targets within a surveillance volume and of not updating tracks on known targets. A single cost function is used to determine a myopic radar schedule that is optimised using an interior point method. A simple example of a dynamically evolving target environment is used to illustrate the allocation of radar timeline for search and tracking functions.