Track-before-detect for sea clutter rejection: Tests with real data

Track-before-detect (TBD) is a popular incoherent energy integration technique aimed at improving detectability of weak targets. A number of studies are available in the literature demonstrating its efficacy against disturbance (whether noise or clutter), but most of them refer to synthetic data, i.e., relying on computer simulations. In this paper, we tackle the problem of assessing the TBD performance with real data and in a particularly severe clutter environment, i.e., sea-clutter. Precisely, using a set of real data from a ground-based sea-search radar, we implement TBD directly on the plot-lists coming from the radar plot extractor (this be can done with acceptable complexity by using an ad hoc dynamic programming algorithm), and demonstrate its effectiveness in reducing sea-clutter. As a further contribution, we also develop an improved decision logic for plot confirmation.