Exploiting Doppler in Bernoulli Track-Before-Detect for a Scanning Maritime Radar

Detection and tracking of small targets in sea clutter using high-resolution radar is a challenging problem. Recently, a Bernoulli track-before-detect (TBD) filter has been developed for an airborne scanning radar in the maritime domain, with the purpose of detection and tracking of short-exposure targets by using a fast scanning mode (i.e., short dwell-time and noncoherent integration). This article investigates the potential benefits of coherent radar processing and exploitation of Doppler information in TBD, when the radar operates in a slower scanning mode (i.e., using longer dwell times). For this purpose, a new Bernoulli TBD filter is developed, which is capable of processing full three-dimensional (range-azimuth-Doppler) radar data. The amplitude of sea clutter is modeled using the K distribution with Doppler-dependent shape and scale parameters. Numerical results indicate that the new Bernoulli TBD outperforms the fast scanning TBD filter, at signal-to-interference ratios below 6 dB.