Scheduling Methods for a Conformal, Phased Array Multifunction Radar

This paper presents a method for the scheduling of a multifunction radar based on an active phased array of the conformal type (frustum of cone). This type of antenna obtains a 360 degrees horizontal coverage by a number M of sectors each one belonging to a sub-array, where different non overlapping sub-arrays can illuminate different targets at the same time. This operation has both the advantages of a rotating antenna and those of the electronic scan of a fixed-faces multifunction radar. In this context, a scheduling algorithm has to organize a number of parallel radar tasks respecting the constrains on the update intervals. The goal is to implement a scheduling algorithm for a system quite similar to a fixed-faces multifunction phased array radar, with the significant difference that the faces number and pointing directions are variable and adaptive to the scenario. An optimization model is presented and then a heuristic models is discussed with some computational results.