Comparison of scheduling algorithms for multifunction radar

The management of radar resources in a multifunction radar is central to unlocking the potential offered by electronic scanning. Scheduling is an important sub-problem of radar resource management because of the strong correlation between how tasks should be performed, as well as the time available to carry them out and their timeliness. Two scheduling algorithms previously reported in the literature are compared in order to investigate differences in their performance. This provides new insights which may be invaluable in the development of future optimal schedulers. A detailed model of a multifunction radar has been developed to enable comparison using the same operational conditions. The radar is assumed to operate in both ´underload´ and ´overload´ situations. When not fully loaded (i.e. underload), the two scheduling algorithms perform in significantly different ways. However, in the more important case of overload situations, where there are insufficient radar resources to carry out all necessary tasks, both algorithms provide similar performance. Nevertheless, there still remain differences that require careful understanding when selecting the most appropriate scheduler.