Device and method for cognitive radar information network

A method for controlling a surveillance radar system including at least one radar node, comprising:

• storing, in a repository or database, radar decisions previously taken in response to respective sets of target attributes, each of which characterizes the nature of targets of interest requiring attention for a particular region contained within the combined surveillance volume of said radar system, each said radar decision taking the form of selection of radar control parameters including illumination parameter vectors and receiver processing mode parameters;
• storing in said repository or database said sets of target attributes;
• storing, in said repository or database, respective consequences of said decisions as to radar control parameters used in monitoring said targets of interest, said consequences comprising effects on surveillance performance figures of merit for said targets of interest by said system in said region;
• receiving radar data from said at least one radar node and generating target information from said radar data and storing said target information in said repository or database;
• processing said stored target information to generate adaptive target maps, said adaptive target maps organized as to said radar control parameters;
• storing said adaptive target maps in said repository or database;
• accessing said adaptive target maps in said repository or database;
• based on said adaptive target maps, said decisions, and said consequences in said repository or database, and in response to a current set of target attributes for said region, selecting an illumination parameter vector and a set of receiver processing mode parameters for at least one selected radar node;
• sending the selected illumination parameter vector and the selected set of receiver processing mode parameters to said at least one selected radar node for modifying the operation thereof.

A method for controlling a radar network, comprising:

• receiving radar data over a network from multiple radar nodes distributed throughout a region;
• processing the radar data to detect a suspicious target or an environmental disturbance and to characterize said target or environmental disturbance with a set of attributes;
• defining one or more volumetric attention cells in said region;
• determining which of said attention cells are associated with said suspicious target or environmental disturbance;
• accessing a database or repository of past radar control parameter vectors, each previously selected and used in response to past said respective set of attributes, each of said radar control parameter vectors including an illumination parameter vector and receiver processing mode parameter vector for at least one radar node;
• selecting from said database or repository an illumination parameter vector and a receiver processing mode parameter vector for at least one radar node from among said multiple radar nodes in said region, wherein said attention cells determined to be associated with said suspicious target or environmental disturbance are located within a surveillance volume of said at least one radar node;
• and sending the selected illumination parameter vector and the selected receiver processing mode parameter vector to said at least one radar node for modifying the operation thereof so as to ultimately improve radar surveillance performance in said attention cells pertaining to said suspicious target or environmental disturbance.

A method for controlling a radar operation including successive perception-action cycles, said method comprising:

• during each said perception-action cycle:
• energizing a radar transmitter to transmit an electromagnetic waveform to illuminate an environment;
• activating an associated receiver to (a) make measurements of the environment from incoming electromagnetic echoes generated by the environment in response to the transmitted waveform and (b) provide feedback information about the environment at least indirectly back to said transmitter, said feedback information based on the multi-target entropic state calculated from the track state-estimation error information associated with the targets of opportunity tracked in the surveillance volume of said radar;
• and (c) adaptively selecting in accordance with prior radar scan results, a new and potentially different illumination to energize said transmitter during a succeeding perception-action cycle.

A method for controlling a radar surveillance network consisting of multiple radar nodes, comprising:

• dividing up a combined surveillance volume of said network into a number of predefined attention cells or regions for applying attention;
• detecting a situation of interest such as a suspicious target, environmental disturbance or area of interest, said situation of interest being associated with at least one of said attention cells;
• determining a subset of radar nodes whose respective surveillance volumes intersect with said at least one of said attention cells;
• deciding to focus said network's attention on said at least one of said attention cells;
• focusing attention on said at least one of said attention cells by selecting a new radar parameter vector for use by at least one of said subset of radar nodes;
• using said selected new radar parameter vector to reconfigure a transmitter and a receiver of said at least one of said subset of radar nodes so as to improve performance in said at least one of said attention cells;
• said selecting of said new radar parameter vector determined adaptively by learning from past selections made in response to similar, previous situations of interest and their respective impact on surveillance performance in the vicinity of said at least one of said attention cells.