Range-spread target detecting for cognitive radar based on track-before-detect

The problem of cognitive radar detecting for range-spread target with unknown target impulse response (TIR) is studied. A detecting algorithm which updates the estimate of TIR and transmitted waveform iteratively is proposed based on track-before-detect method. In the algorithm, the Kalman filter is used to track the range-spread target for estimating the TIR, and the signal-to-noise rate criterion is used to design the transmitted waveform. The simulation results show that if the proposed algorithm is used to detect moving target, the performance of tracking and detecting will be improved when the number of loops increases. And the estimated detecting probability will approach the true detecting probability when the tracking accuracy increases, which would improve the reliability of decision.