Detection Range Predictions for Pulse Doppler Radar

A mathematical model of sufficient flexibility to describe most pulse Doppler radar search systems is constructed and used to predict detection ranges. It is applicable to situations where thermal noise and/or sidelobe clutter limits detection range. The sidelobe clutter is assumed to be statistically similar to thermal noise. The model allows the variation of most of the important radar parameters. The receiver is assumed to have a number of rectangular, nonoverlapping range gates followed by narrow-band, Gaussian shaped Doppler filters, and then a square-law envelope detector followed by a postdetection filter consisting of one or two stages having exponential weighting functions. Single scan and cumulative probabilities of detection are calculated for both steady and scintillating targets.