Cascaded GLRT Radar/Infrared Lidar Information Fusion Algorithm for Weak Target Detection

AbstractTo deal with the problem of weak target detection, a cascaded generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) radar/infrared lidar heterogeneous information fusion algorithm is proposed in this paper. The algorithm makes full use of the target characteristics in microwave/infrared spectrum and the scanning efficiency of different sensors. According to the correlation of target position in the multi-sensor view field, the GLRT statistic derived from the radar measurements is compared with a lower threshold so as to generate initial candidate targets with high detection probability. Subsequently, the lidar is guided to scan the candidate regions and the final decision is made by GLRT detector to discriminate the false alarm. To get the best detection performance, the optimal detection parameters are obtained by nonlinear optimization for the cascaded GLRT Radar/Infrared lidar heterogeneous information fusion detection algorithm. Simulation results show that the cascaded GLRT heterogeneous information fusion detector comprehensively utilizes the advantages of radar and infrared lidar sensors in detection efficiency and performance, which effectively improves the detection distance upon radar weak targets within the allowable time.