Localization Strategies for Multiple Point-like Radar Targets

In this correspondence, we focus on the design and the analysis of schemes aimed at estimating the position of multiple point-like targets that fall among three adjacent samples of the matched filter output (typically present in the processing chain of a radar). To this end, we exploit spillover of targets’ energy to adjacent range cells. The number of targets (and the corresponding Doppler frequency shifts) is assumed to be known. Moreover, we suppose that received useful signals can be modeled in terms of vectors known up to deterministic parameters and that they are embedded in correlated Gaussian noise with unknown covariance matrix. For estimation purposes we assume that a set of secondary data, free of signal components, but sharing the same covariance matrix of the noise in the cells containing signal returns, is available. The analysis, also in comparison to a possible competitor, proves the superiority of multitarget schemes with respect to single target ones, even under reasonably mismatched scenarios.