Observation of noise-induced transitions in radar range tracking systems

Abstract

Noise-induced transitions are studied for nonlinear radar range tracker system models. The paper shows the existence of noise-induced transitions in such models, indicating that the noise level can have a profound effect on the nature of tracker behavior. A scenario is considered in which a centroid tracking radar subtends two physical targets. The perceived track points are studied as a function target distance and noise. The work uses nonlinear models for radar range trackers developed in [1]. The noise-induced transitions found in this work result in unanticipated changes in the bifurcation behavior of the tracking system the presence of noise. The relative impact of noise amplitude and target separation on the noise induced-transitions is studied.