Passive-Active Radar Coalition for Surveillance Coverage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multifunction active radar systems face challenges in efficiently managing tasks such as panoramic watching, target detection, and tracking in dense environments, often compromising on one task due to priority, and the multiplication of active radar equipment is costly and ineffective as it fails to account for the global situation.
Innovation Solution
A radar surveillance system combining passive and active radars, where the passive radar operates in two modes: a 'watching' mode for continuous surveillance and an 'on-demand data feed' mode to support active radars, allowing for optimal temporal scheduling and information exchange, enabling better coverage and task execution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If multiple active radar equipments are multiplied to monitor the same area, then coverage is improved, but cost increases and each radar operates autonomously without accounting for the global situation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple active radars and passive radars into a unified coalition system that shares detection data and coordinates operations. The radars merge their surveillance capabilities through a common data exchange framework, allowing the system to achieve comprehensive coverage without requiring each individual radar to operate independently or duplicate full surveillance functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The passive radar system serves multiple functions: it provides continuous surveillance in watching mode, delivers on-demand detection data to active radars, and enables temporal scheduling of detection tasks. This multi-functionality reduces the need for multiple dedicated active radar equipments while maintaining comprehensive surveillance coverage.
2Measurement precision
If active radar prioritizes confirmation or tracking tasks, then target detection precision is improved, but watching tasks are spaced in time or eliminated
Solution Approach 1:
The passive radar performs preliminary detection and surveillance tasks continuously in watching mode, building up detection data before specific confirmation or tracking operations are needed. This preliminary action allows the active radars to focus on high-priority tasks without losing time for comprehensive surveillance, as the passive radar has already performed the initial detection and data gathering.
Solution Approach 2:
The passive radar acts as an intermediary between continuous surveillance requirements and on-demand confirmation/tracking tasks. It receives watching tasks, executes them continuously, and provides the resulting detection data to active radars when needed, thereby mediating between the conflicting requirements of continuous surveillance and prioritized target confirmation.
3Duration of action of stationary object
If passive radar operates only in watching mode, then continuous surveillance is maintained, but on-demand data requests from active radars cannot be fulfilled
Solution Approach 1:
The passive radar system dynamically switches between two operating modes: watching mode for continuous surveillance and on-demand data feed mode for fulfilling specific requests from active radars. This dynamic adaptability allows the system to maintain continuous surveillance capability while responding to on-demand data requests, balancing the conflicting requirements of continuous operation and flexible responsiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
The architecture includes a passive radar using opportunistic transmitters and a plurality of active radars that cooperate in the form of a coalition to assure the surveillance of an area of space. The passive radar and the active radars that form the architecture include means for exchanging information and the passive radar is configured to adopt two alternate operating modes: (i) a “watching” mode in which the passive radar carries out surveillance of the area of space concerned and generates detection information, and (ii) an “on-demand data feed” mode in which the passive radar executes at the request of one or more active radars an object search in a given sector of the area under surveillance or an analysis of certain characteristics of the signal received in a given sector.