Cognitive Radar Technologies
Report date 26 October 2020
For NATO’s military and peacekeeping operations radar is used in virtually all applications, including air defence, weapon locating, surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition. Radar systems are able to function during day and night, have relative immunity to weather, and can even provide over the horizon coverage. They can provide high-resolution imagery, detect, localize and track targets at all ranges. The emerging theme of cognitive radar sensing has roots in mammalian cognition. It embraces both the “perception-action cycle” and the more explicit generation and exploitation of memories. Applying the ideas of cognition to radar has the potential to usher in a new era of sensing, not just improving the performance of existing radar systems but opening up whole new capability areas. The objectives of this Task Group have been to develop and conduct experiments and theoretical investigations to illustrate the benefits and challenges of enabling cognition-based capabilities in radar systems. Several of the participating groups have conducted experiments on cognitive, and the co-operation afforded by the task group has allowed ideas, experiences and results to be shared. At the outset of this study there had been little or no experimental work to demonstrate cognitive behaviour in a practical way. The work has been able to demonstrate true cognitive behaviour in a radar sensor. However, the work has also highlighted the difficulty of experimental work on cognitive sensing, and there is much more to be done. The experimental work of the task group will undoubtedly continue beyond the time limit of this Task Group, since strong links have been forged. It is recommended that a further NATO Task Group be initiated on the subject of Cognitive Radar Networks.
www.sto.nato.int
Report date 26 October 2020
For NATO’s military and peacekeeping operations radar is used in virtually all applications, including air defence, weapon locating, surveillance, reconnaissance and target acquisition. Radar systems are able to function during day and night, have relative immunity to weather, and can even provide over the horizon coverage. They can provide high-resolution imagery, detect, localize and track targets at all ranges. The emerging theme of cognitive radar sensing has roots in mammalian cognition. It embraces both the “perception-action cycle” and the more explicit generation and exploitation of memories. Applying the ideas of cognition to radar has the potential to usher in a new era of sensing, not just improving the performance of existing radar systems but opening up whole new capability areas. The objectives of this Task Group have been to develop and conduct experiments and theoretical investigations to illustrate the benefits and challenges of enabling cognition-based capabilities in radar systems. Several of the participating groups have conducted experiments on cognitive, and the co-operation afforded by the task group has allowed ideas, experiences and results to be shared. At the outset of this study there had been little or no experimental work to demonstrate cognitive behaviour in a practical way. The work has been able to demonstrate true cognitive behaviour in a radar sensor. However, the work has also highlighted the difficulty of experimental work on cognitive sensing, and there is much more to be done. The experimental work of the task group will undoubtedly continue beyond the time limit of this Task Group, since strong links have been forged. It is recommended that a further NATO Task Group be initiated on the subject of Cognitive Radar Networks.
Document Set
The NATO Science and Technology Organization (STO) is a NATO subsidiary body created to meet the collective Science and Technology needs of the NATO Alliance and its partner nations.
