Detecting the Presence of Target Multiplicity

A method is discussed for detecting the presence of multiple targets in the radar antenna beam. It is assumed that the targets are unresolvable in range, Doppler, and angle using conventional monopulse resolution techniques. The basic approach taken is a generalization of the "quadrature" method, with significantly enhanced performance in the case when multiple pulses are integrated into a single solution. Detection and false alarm probabilities are derived analytically and the receiver operating characteristics are graphed. This study was performed for application to angle processing in a frequency agile automatic tracking radar, but the underlying concept is general and has applications outside this area.