Optimal exploitation of fluctuating target measurements
Chris Kreucher, Paul Bierdz, Kristine L. Bell · 2016
This paper describes an approach for evaluating the likelihood of received measurements with a fluctuating amplitude source. The likelihood drives higher level signal processing mechanisms like trackers. We investigate targets with fluctuating radar cross section (RCS) characterized by Swerling models and derive a general closed-form expression for the likelihood ratio. It does not appear that this closed form solution is well known, despite the widespread use of Swerling models in tracking applications. We illustrate the technique on a radar target tracking simulation using a target with fluctuating scan-to-scan radar cross section.