Radar Target-Acquisition Optimization Strategy Based on Variable Angular Velocity Spiral Scanning

The detection of low-altitude targets，such as birds and drones，is a current popular research topic under radar detection. Precise individual tracking and observation are required to achieve the recognition of low-altitude target categories and behaviors. Because precise tracking radars lack independent target-acquisition capabilities，the current radar system often adopts a cooperative mechanism in which large-airspace search radars provide indication information，enabling precision tracking radars to capture and track a target. Therefore，high acquisition probability is the key to achieving the efficient observation of low-altitude targets. Existing target-acquisition methods such as parallel scanning，circu‐ lar scanning，and spiral scanning use a fixed search pattern，which lacks specific optimization for target indication information. To capture low-altitude targets in a limited time，this paper proposes a radar target-acquisition optimization strategy based on variable angular velocity spiral scanning. A method for allocating non-uniform spiral dwell time based on inverse transform sampling is proposed，which optimizes the scanning dwell time at different locations according to the optimal search theory. Subsequently，a supplementary scanning method based on target detection logic is proposed， which effectively improves the target-acquisition probability. Finally，simulation experiments and high-resolution radar system target-acquisition experiments verified the effectiveness of the method.