Cognitive Radar Principles for Defence and Security Applications

Modern defense and security radar sensors have to operate in a very diverse set of dynamically varying scenarios: Detection, tracking, and classification of very small and slow air targets, such as drones in clutter areas up to fast air targets such as missiles and fighter aircraft together with an increasingly congested and contested spectrum are essential and challenging system requirements. Cognitive radars that combine a multitude of well known and new techniques offer a promising solution to these challenges. In this article, the operational scenarios are introduced, and then a high-level functional architecture is presented, before discussing certain aspects of cognitive radars from a user's and manufacturer's point of view.