Particle Filter Based Track-before-detect Algorithm for Over-the-horizon Radar TargetDetection and Tracking

A particle filter based Track-before-detect(TBD) algorithm for Over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) target detection and tracking is proposed in this paper. In theTBD algorithm the unthresholded measurements are integrated over time, thus it can potentially detect and tracktargets with a much lower signal-to-noise ratio than conventional methods. Such a characteristic make the TBDtechnique adequate for OTHR target detection and tracking. The performance of the proposed algorithm employsdifferent unthresholded measurements, such as complexmeasurements, amplitude measurements and power measurements, are compared and discussed. Simulation resultsshow that the proposed algorithm is capable to detect andtrack dim targets for OTHR and the amplitude measurements are preferred for the proposed algorithm.