Feed-back to acquisition: Sensor management

Modern active phased-array radar [1] is an example of a multifunctional sensor system that requires sophisticated sensor management algorithms for its efficient operation. Such systems call for efficient exploitation of their degrees of freedom, which are variable over a wide range and may be chosen individually for each track. This is especially true in multiple object tracking tasks. Of special interest are air situations with agile objects significantly differing in their radar cross section. Unless properly handled, such situations can be highly allocation time- and energy-consuming. In this context, advanced sensor and dynamics models for combined tracking and sensor management are discussed, i.e. control of data innovation intervals, radar beam positioning, and transmitted energy management. By efficiently exploiting its limited resources, the total surveillance performance of such sensor systems can be much improved.