TABLE OF CONTENTS Phased array radars are ideally suited to tracking of multiple targets within their electronic scan fields, as no time need be lost in moving the antenna beam from one target to the next. Target track dwells can be scheduled in such a way as to obtain a high data rate on each of n t targets, where n t depends on the dwell times required to obtain the target echoes and reject clutter. Additional dwells for acquisition of new targets are scheduled between track dwells. If an MFAR approach is chosen, search is conducted during the portion of the time not required for tracking, track acquisition, and guidance functions.
Choice of RF is governed primarily by the accuracy and resolution requirements of the tracking and guidance modes, given the limit to the available antenna size or weight. The achievable tracking accuracy is set by the antenna beamwidth and the environment. In principle, the energy received from critical targets can be increased to achieve the desired accuracy in thermal noise with any beamwidth, but in practice several factors produce error components proportional to the beam-width that are not reduced by increasing energy or averaging over multiple dwells, even if time permits. To achieve a total error ? ? = 0.02 ? 3, for example, the designer typically assigns to each of four significant error sources an allowance of ? ?/2 = 0.01 ? 3. In a radar having...
