Analysis of the cascade of track-before-detect and track-after-detect tracking algorithms
Paul F. Singer, Doreen M. Sasaki · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 1998
Advanced track-after-detect (TAD) trackers are able to operate with detection thresholds as low as 9.5dB with the use of track features. At lower threshold the increased number of false alarms inhibits track confirmation. In order to track weaker targets, the target SNR must be increased prior to detection. Assuming that the SNR has been increased as much as possible through signal processing, further increase in SNR can be obtained by preceding the detection threshold with a track-before-detect algorithms. This paper analyzes the performance of the cascade of a TBD and a TAD tracking algorithm.