Radar system for multiple object tracking and discrimination

Abstract

A radar system for tracking a plurality of individual objects that form a cluster. The system comprises means for producing in real time reference information indicative of the position of a reference point associated with the mean position of the objects, and means for producing in real time displacement information indicative of the relative position of each object with respect to the reference point. The system may handle a transmitter, and the means for producing the displacement information may include a interferometer system comprising a central receiver, a pair of first satellite receivers positioned on opposite sides of the central receiver along a first axis that passes through the central receiver, and a pair of second satellite receivers positioned on opposite sides of the central receiver along a second axis that passes through the central receiver and that is inclined with respect to the first axis. The displacement information produced by the interferometer system indicates the position of each object with respect to a virtual coordinate system having one axis coincident with a line from the central receiver to the reference point. Means are described for determining the relative phases and relative arrival times of radar pulses reflected from the objects at each of the recivers. For each receiver, the relative phase and relative arrival time of each return pulse may be transferred to the virtual coordinate system by a separate processor dedicated to that receiver. Separate processors may also be associated with each object, to process the virtual data corresponding to that object and to produce the displacement information for the object.