Device and method for cognitive radar information network
First Claim
1. A cognitive radar information network surveillance system monitoring a multi-target environment, said system comprising at least one said radar sensing node, a repository, and a cognitive radar controller, said radar sensing node comprising:
- a radar transmitter for illuminating a respective surveillance volume of said environment with a radio frequency waveform emitted through a transmitting antenna operatively connected to said transmitter; and
a receiver operatively connected to a receiving antenna for receiving echoes from multiple targets and clutter in said environment in response to said emitted waveform, said receiver comprising a digital radar processor for generating receiver information about said environment;
said repository being operatively connected to said receiver for receiving and storing said receiver information, the stored receiver information being accessible by said cognitive controller as historical receiver information;
to automatically focus system attention on a region contained within a combined surveillance volume in response to an attention request for improved surveillance performance in said region, said cognitive controller being configured to execute at least one action taken from the group consisting of operating or energizing said transmitter in accordance with a set of selected illumination or transmit-waveform parameters, operating said receiver under a selected processing mode, and controlling said transmitting antenna;
wherein said cognitive controller is further configured to make selections of radar control parameters including illumination or transmit-waveform parameters, receiver processing modes, and antenna control parameters in accordance with consequences of past decisions as to radar control parameters, stored as additional said historical receiver information in said repository, said consequences comprising effects on surveillance performance figures of merit in said region.
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Abstract
In cognitive radar information networks (CRINs) human-like cognitive abilities of attention and intelligence are built into radar systems and radar information networks (RINS) to assist operators with information overload. A CRIN comprises a plurality of radar sensing nodes monitoring an environment, a repository or memory, and a cognitive radar controller. Each radar sensing node includes a radio frequency transmitter, a transmitting antenna, and a receiver and receiving antenna. The receiver includes a digital radar processor for generating receiver information from the received echoes about the environment. The repository is configured for receiving and storing the receiver information generated by the digital radar processor. The cognitive controller is configured to automatically focus the system'"'"'s attention on a region of interest within the surveillance volume in response to an attention request, by selecting the transmitter'"'"'s waveform, selecting the receiver'"'"'s processing mode, and controlling the transmitter'"'"'s antenna. The cognitive controller learns from the environment by exploiting the repository'"'"'s historical receiver information and further learns from the consequences of its past decision.
90 Citations
43 Claims
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1. A cognitive radar information network surveillance system monitoring a multi-target environment, said system comprising at least one said radar sensing node, a repository, and a cognitive radar controller, said radar sensing node comprising:
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a radar transmitter for illuminating a respective surveillance volume of said environment with a radio frequency waveform emitted through a transmitting antenna operatively connected to said transmitter; and a receiver operatively connected to a receiving antenna for receiving echoes from multiple targets and clutter in said environment in response to said emitted waveform, said receiver comprising a digital radar processor for generating receiver information about said environment; said repository being operatively connected to said receiver for receiving and storing said receiver information, the stored receiver information being accessible by said cognitive controller as historical receiver information; to automatically focus system attention on a region contained within a combined surveillance volume in response to an attention request for improved surveillance performance in said region, said cognitive controller being configured to execute at least one action taken from the group consisting of operating or energizing said transmitter in accordance with a set of selected illumination or transmit-waveform parameters, operating said receiver under a selected processing mode, and controlling said transmitting antenna;
wherein said cognitive controller is further configured to make selections of radar control parameters including illumination or transmit-waveform parameters, receiver processing modes, and antenna control parameters in accordance with consequences of past decisions as to radar control parameters, stored as additional said historical receiver information in said repository, said consequences comprising effects on surveillance performance figures of merit in said region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for intelligently focusing the attention of a radar surveillance system on a region of interest contained in a surveillance volume, comprising:
- operating a cognitive radar controller to receive and process an attention request, the processing of said attention request including selecting at least one set of radar operating parameters taken from the group consisting of illumination or transmit-waveform parameters, receiver processing mode parameters, and transmitting antenna control parameters; and
providing the selected set of operating parameters to at least one respective selected radar sensing node of a plurality of radar sensing nodes in said surveillance system so that said selected radar sensing node operates in accordance with said selected set of operating parameters, the selecting of said at least one set of radar operating parameters including operating said cognitive radar controller to consult or access a repository containing stored historical target information entailing results of radar scans in accordance with previous selected sets of radar operating parameters, thus enabling a learning from the environment and consequences of past radar operating decisions. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
- operating a cognitive radar controller to receive and process an attention request, the processing of said attention request including selecting at least one set of radar operating parameters taken from the group consisting of illumination or transmit-waveform parameters, receiver processing mode parameters, and transmitting antenna control parameters; and
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32. A method for controlling a surveillance radar system including at least one radar node, comprising:
- storing, in a repository or database, radar decisions previously taken in response to respective sets of target attributes, each of which characterizes the nature of targets of interest requiring attention for a particular region contained within the combined surveillance volume of said radar system, each said radar decision taking the form of selection of radar control parameters including illumination parameter vectors and receiver processing mode parameters;
storing in said repository or database said sets of target attributes;
storing, in said repository or database, respective consequences of said decisions as to radar control parameters used in monitoring said targets of interest, said consequences comprising effects on surveillance performance figures of merit for said targets of interest by said system in said region;
receiving radar data from said at least one radar node and generating target information from said radar data and storing said target information in said repository or database;
processing said stored target information to generate adaptive target maps, said adaptive target maps organized as to said radar control parameters;
storing said adaptive target maps in said repository or database;
accessing said adaptive target maps in said repository or database;
based on said adaptive target maps, said decisions, and said consequences in said repository or database, and in response to a current set of target attributes for said region, selecting an illumination parameter vector and a set of receiver processing mode parameters for at least one selected radar node;
sending the selected illumination parameter vector and the selected set of receiver processing mode parameters to said at least one selected radar node for modifying the operation thereof. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36)
- storing, in a repository or database, radar decisions previously taken in response to respective sets of target attributes, each of which characterizes the nature of targets of interest requiring attention for a particular region contained within the combined surveillance volume of said radar system, each said radar decision taking the form of selection of radar control parameters including illumination parameter vectors and receiver processing mode parameters;
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37. A method for controlling a radar network, comprising:
- receiving radar data over a network from multiple radar nodes distributed throughout a region;
processing the radar data to detect a suspicious target or an environmental disturbance and to characterize said target or environmental disturbance with a set of attributes;
defining one or more volumetric attention cells in said region;
determining which of said attention cells are associated with said suspicious target or environmental disturbance;
accessing a database or repository of past radar control parameter vectors, each previously selected and used in response to past said respective set of attributes, each of said radar control parameter vectors including an illumination parameter vector and receiver processing mode parameter vector for at least one radar node;
selecting from said database or repository an illumination parameter vector and a receiver processing mode parameter vector for at least one radar node from among said multiple radar nodes in said region, wherein said attention cells determined to be associated with said suspicious target or environmental disturbance are located within a surveillance volume of said at least one radar node; and
sending the selected illumination parameter vector and the selected receiver processing mode parameter vector to said at least one radar node for modifying the operation thereof so as to ultimately improve radar surveillance performance in said attention cells pertaining to said suspicious target or environmental disturbance. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39)
- receiving radar data over a network from multiple radar nodes distributed throughout a region;
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40. A method for controlling a radar operation including successive perception-action cycles, said method comprising:
- during each said perception-action cycle;
energizing a radar transmitter to transmit an electromagnetic waveform to illuminate an environment;
activating an associated receiver to (a) make measurements of the environment from incoming electromagnetic echoes generated by the environment in response to the transmitted waveform and (b) provide feedback information about the environment at least indirectly back to said transmitter, said feedback information based on the multi-target entropic state calculated from the track state-estimation error information associated with the targets of opportunity tracked in the surveillance volume of said radar; and
(c) adaptively selecting in accordance with prior radar scan results, a new and potentially different illumination to energize said transmitter during a succeeding perception-action cycle. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42)
- during each said perception-action cycle;
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43. A method for controlling a radar surveillance network consisting of multiple radar nodes, comprising:
- dividing up a combined surveillance volume of said network into a number of predefined attention cells or regions for applying attention;
detecting a situation of interest such as a suspicious target, environmental disturbance or area of interest, said situation of interest being associated with at least one of said attention cells;
determining a subset of radar nodes whose respective surveillance volumes intersect with said at least one of said attention cells;
deciding to focus said network'"'"'s attention on said at least one of said attention cells;
focusing attention on said at least one of said attention cells by selecting a new radar parameter vector for use by at least one of said subset of radar nodes;
using said selected new radar parameter vector to reconfigure a transmitter and a receiver of said at least one of said subset of radar nodes so as to improve performance in said at least one of said attention cells;
said selecting of said new radar parameter vector determined adaptively by learning from past selections made in response to similar, previous situations of interest and their respective impact on surveillance performance in the vicinity of said at least one of said attention cells.
- dividing up a combined surveillance volume of said network into a number of predefined attention cells or regions for applying attention;
Specification