Robust Dwell Time Allocation for Multiple Ballistic Reentry Target Tracking in Phased Array Radar

Phased array radar (PAR) is shown to provide an enhanced performance for target tracking due to its beam agility and ability for time resource allocation. Existing algorithms for PAR resource allocation often consider standard and simplified dynamic models for target motion, which are not suitable for complex scenarios such as for ballistic target tracking. To expand the applications of resource allocation algorithms in this context, this paper proposes a robust dwell time allocation algorithm for multiple ballistic reentry target (BRT) tracking in PAR. We aim to achieve an online dwell time allocation by establishing and solving optimization problems at each tracking interval. The motion of BRT is characterized by using the flat earth model, and the predicted Cramér-Rao lower bound (PCRLB) for BRT is derived to quantify the performance of tracking. By minimizing the weighted sum of time consumption of the PAR and cost of attaining the desired performance, a robust dwell time allocation approach is established. Finally, the superiority of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through simulation.