Next Generation Cognitive Radar Taking the Leap into Genuine Intelligence

Next Generation Cognitive Radar Taking the Leap into Genuine Intelligence Although alladaptive radars incorporate a rudimentary "learning" capability—otherwise they would not be adaptive—the learning component in these types of systems is mechanical in nature. In other words, not very intelligent. Cognitive radar, on the other hand, is a different matter. Cognitive radar refers to radar that is capable of interacting intelligently with its environment, by adapting both its transmit and receive functions based on contextual awareness and expert reasoning. According to Dr. Joseph R. Guerci, IEEE Fellow and Warren D. White Award Recipient, the complexities of cognitive radar are such that it’s important to define the terms under discussion. "What is meant by a ‘cognitive radar?’ A rather bland but perfectly accurate description is simply ‘the next generation of highly adaptive radars,’" he said. But the problem with that description, said Dr. Guerci, is that it "does not do justice to just how much more ‘adaptive’ and ‘intelligent appearing’ this class of radars can be," compared to other forms of adaptive radar. Genuine cognitive radar, he said, is different. Fundamentally, cognitiveradar refers to the next generation of adaptive radar that has unprecedented transmit-receive adaptivity and diversity, along with "intelligent" high performance embedded computing; in other words, the radar adapts "intelligently" to its environment based on a plurality of potential information sources. Dr. Guerci notes that while there are some commonalities between cognitive radars and conventional radars, these common points tend to be highly specialized in conventional radar due to the demands of real-time signal throughput and available real-time knowledge sources. Cognitive radararchitectures, however, offer the potential of dramatically improving the sophistication of adaptivity—both transmitting and receiving—through the exploitation of a plurality of knowledge sources, both endogenous and exogenous. [eventPDF] Put more simply, the coming generation of cognitive radars "has all the essential elements of cognition in sufficient magnitude to truly set it apart from simply an adaptive radar upgrade," he said. These elements include teraflops of real-time embedded computing, complex expert reasoning and inferential reasoning software, full transmit and receive capability, and advanced knowledge-aided processing powered by expansive real-time dynamic databases. "The result is a radar capable of achieving an order of magnitude or greater improvement in a multitude of performance metrics," he said. Although cognitive radar is still very much in the developmental stages, he said, high fidelity modeling and simulation have clearly shown the potential benefits. Dr. Guerci also noted that cognitive radar ably address the issue of RF spectrum management. In a fashion similar to cognitive radios, he said, full transmit and receive adaptivity that is software controlled and backed by a cognitive architecture is the best way to address the crowded spectrum issue for radar in the future. Cognitive radar is an extremely broad area encompassing new waveform diversity technologies and techniques, high performance embedded computing, knowledge-aided processing and learning algorithms, and dynamic database technologies and architectures. Each of these areas can expect to see major growth and opportunities in the coming years. Dr. Guerci noted that the entire radar enterprise is extremely broad, ranging from a nascent research idea to a key fielded Warfighter technology. "To say it can be a long journey is of course a gross understatement," said Dr. Guerci. "The main reason is simple: radar is anything but simple! It encompasses some of the most advanced electromagnetic physics and technologies, cutting edge high performance embedded computing, and sophisticated adaptive signal processing, information fusion, and data exploitation." Radar research and application implementation within the defense community is therefore best advanced, he said, through the cross-pollination of all stakeholders in the process: from researchers, engineers, corporate executives, and a broad spectrum of government and military personnel. This is the process that can best bridge the gap, he said, between emerging technologies and real-world Warfighter needs. In addition to serving as program chair, Dr. Guerci will provide an advanced tutorial on cognitive radar at IDGA’s 5thAnnual Military Radar Summit, to be held Feb. 6-8, 2012 in Washington, DC. The tutorial will provide an in-depth overview on cognitive radar, with particular emphasis placed on the first specific real-time cognitive radar architecture based on extensive knowledge-aided (KA) processing, and full joint transmit-receive adaptivity.

Next Generation Cognitive Radar Taking the Leap into Genuine Intelligence

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