WRFRFT-based Coherent Detection and Parameter Estimation of Radar Moving Target With Unknown Entry/Departure Time

TL;DR

This paper introduces WRFRFT, a novel algorithm for coherent detection and parameter estimation of moving radar targets with unknown entry and departure times, effectively handling across range cell and Doppler spread effects.

Contribution

It proposes the WRFRFT algorithm that estimates target entry/departure times and motion parameters without prior time information, improving detection accuracy.

Findings

Effective in simulated and real radar data

Accurately estimates entry and departure times

Handles across range cell and Doppler spread effects

Abstract

A moving target may enter a radar coverage area unannounced and leave after an unspecified period, which implies that the target's entry time and departure time are unknown. In the absence of these time information, target detection and parameter estimation (DAPE) will be severely impacted. In this paper, we consider the coherent detection and parameters estimation problem for a radar moving target with unknown entry time and departure time (that is, the time when the target appears-in/leaves the radar detection field is unknown), involving across range cell (ARC) and Doppler spread (DS) effects within the observation period. A new algorithm, known as window Radon Fractional Fourier transform (WRFRFT) is proposed to detect and estimate the target's time parameters (i.e., entry time and departure time) and motion parameters (i.e., range, velocity and acceleration). The observation values of a maneuvering target are first intercepted and extracted by the window function and searching along the motion trajectory. Then these values are fractional Fourier transformed and well accumulated in the WRFRFT domain, where the DAPE of target could be accomplished thereafter. Experiments with simulated and real radar data sets prove its effectiveness.