Dwell Time Optimization of Alert-Confirm Detection for Active Phased Array Radars

Alert-confirm detection is a highly efficient method to improve phased array radar search performance. It comprises sequential detection in two steps: alert detection, in which a target is detected at a low detection threshold, and confirm detection, which is triggered by alert detection with a longer dwell time to minimize false alarms. This paper provides a design method for applying the alert-confirm detection to multifunctional radars. We find optimum dwell times and false alarm probabilities for each alert detection and confirm detection under the dual constraints of total false alarm probability and maximum allowable dwell time per position. These optimum values are expressed as a function of the mean new target appearance rate. The proposed alert-confirm detection increases the maximum detection range even with a shorter frame time than that of uniform scanning.