{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,17]],"date-time":"2026-04-17T15:48:33Z","timestamp":1776440913994,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,12]],"date-time":"2021-02-12T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1613088000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this paper we consider the tracking problem of a moving target competing against noise and clutter in a surveillance radar scenario. For a single array-antenna multiple-target tracking system and according to the Track-Before-Detect paradigm, we present a novel approach based on a three-stage processing chain that involves the Sparse Learning via Iterative Minimization algorithm, the k-means clustering method and the ad hoc detector by exploiting the sparse nature of the operating scenario. Under the latter assumption, the detection strategy declares the presence of targets subsequently to the retrieval of their corresponding tracks performed by jointly processing the received echoes of multiple consecutive radar scans. Simulation results show that the proposed approach is able to provide good tracking and detection capabilities for different multiple target trajectories with low Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise ratio and results in providing advantages when compared to a number of other reference Track-Before-Detect strategies based on sparse data processing techniques.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs13040662","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,12]],"date-time":"2021-02-12T18:45:00Z","timestamp":1613155500000},"page":"662","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":22,"title":["A Track-Before-Detect Strategy Based on Sparse Data Processing for Air Surveillance Radar Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8255-2615","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nicomino","family":"Fiscante","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, University of Roma TRE, 00154 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2463-8733","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pia","family":"Addabbo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Telecommunication Engineering, University of Study \u201cGiustino Fortunato\u201d, 82100 Benevento, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6665-693X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Carmine","family":"Clemente","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G11XQ, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7488-4510","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Filippo","family":"Biondi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Joint Satellite Remote Sensing Center, Italian Ministry of Defence, 00187 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1514-2576","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gaetano","family":"Giunta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, University of Roma TRE, 00154 Rome, Italy"}]},{"given":"Danilo","family":"Orlando","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Engineering, University of Study \u201cNiccol\u00f2 Cusano\u201d, 00166 Rome, Italy"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Mahler, R.P.S. (2007). Statistical Multisource-Multitarget Information Fusion, Artech House, Inc.","DOI":"10.1201\/9781420053098.ch16"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Bar-Shalom, Y. (1987). Tracking and Data Association, Academic Press Professional, Inc."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Skolnik, M.I. (1980). Introduction to Radar Systems, McGraw Hill Book Co.. [2nd ed.]."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Blackman, S.S. (1986). Multiple-Target Tracking with Radar Applications, Dedham."},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Kramer, J.D.R., and Reid, W.S. (1990, January 7\u201310). Track-before-detect processing for an airborne type radar. Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Radar, Arlington, VA, USA."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Ristic, B., Arulampalm, S., and Gordon, N. (2004). Beyond the Kalman Filter: Particle Filters for Tracking Applications, Artech House."},{"key":"ref_7","unstructured":"Bar-Shalom, Y. (1990). Dynamic programming algorithm for detecting dim moving targets. Multitarget-Multisensor Tracking: Advanced Applications, Artech House. Chapter 4."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"176","DOI":"10.1109\/7.745690","article-title":"Optimization of multiframe target detection schemes","volume":"35","author":"Hyoungjun","year":"1999","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"228","DOI":"10.1109\/7.993242","article-title":"Performance analysis of a dynamic programming track before detect algorithm","volume":"38","author":"Johnston","year":"2002","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.1109\/7.18661","article-title":"An algorithm for detection of moving optical targets","volume":"25","author":"Pohlig","year":"1989","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"796","DOI":"10.1109\/7.705887","article-title":"Maximum likelihood track-before-detect with fluctuating target amplitude","volume":"34","author":"Tonissen","year":"1998","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Davey, S.J., Rutten, M.G., and Cheung, B. (July, January 30). A comparison of detection performance for several Track-Before-Detect algorithms. Proceedings of the 2008 11th International Conference on Information Fusion, Cologne, Germany.","DOI":"10.1155\/2008\/428036"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Salmond, D.J., and Birch, H. (2001, January 25\u201327). A particle filter for track-before-detect. Proceedings of the 2001 American Control Conference (Cat. No.01CH37148), Arlington, VA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ACC.2001.946220"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Boers, Y., and Driessen, J.N. (2001, January 25\u201327). Particle filter based detection for tracking. Proceedings of the 2001 American Control Conference (Cat. No.01CH37148), Arlington, VA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/ACC.2001.945669"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1228","DOI":"10.1109\/TASL.2009.2031781","article-title":"Acoustic Source Localization and Tracking Using Track Before Detect","volume":"18","author":"Fallon","year":"2010","journal-title":"Trans. Audio Speech Lang. Proc."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1483","DOI":"10.1109\/TAES.2005.1561899","article-title":"Particle filter track-before-detect application using inequality constraints","volume":"41","author":"Boers","year":"2005","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_17","unstructured":"Saha, S., Boers, Y., Driessen, H., Mandal, P.K., and Bagchi, A. (2009, January 6\u20139). Particle based MAP state estimation: A comparison. Proceedings of the 2009 12th International Conference on Information Fusion, Seattle, WA, USA."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5129","DOI":"10.1109\/TSP.2010.2050482","article-title":"Joint Detection and Estimation of Multiple Objects From Image Observations","volume":"58","author":"Vo","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Signal Process."},{"key":"ref_19","unstructured":"Wong, J., Vo, B.T., Vo, B.N., and Hoseinnezhad, R. (2012, January 9\u201312). Multi-Bernoulli based track-before-detect with road constraints. Proceedings of the 2012 15th International Conference on Information Fusion, Singapore."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Jevti\u0107, M., Markovi\u0107, K., Mikluc, D., Mi\u0161i\u0107, B., and Paji\u0107, T. (2013, January 16\u201319). Real-time implementation of target tracking system for air surveillance radar applications. Proceedings of the 2013 11th International Conference on Telecommunications in Modern Satellite, Cable and Broadcasting Services (TELSIKS), Ni\u0161, Serbia.","DOI":"10.1109\/TELSKS.2013.6704440"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"937","DOI":"10.1109\/TAES.2005.1541440","article-title":"Track-before-detect procedures for early detection of moving target from airborne radars","volume":"41","author":"Buzzi","year":"2005","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"933","DOI":"10.1109\/TSP.2009.2032991","article-title":"Track-Before-Detect Strategies for STAP Radars","volume":"58","author":"Orlando","year":"2010","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Signal Process."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1837","DOI":"10.1109\/TAES.2011.5937268","article-title":"Track-Before-Detect Algorithms for Targets with Kinematic Constraints","volume":"47","author":"Orlando","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"602","DOI":"10.1109\/JOE.2011.2165369","article-title":"Impact of Measurement Model Mismatch on Nonlinear Track-Before-Detect Performance for Maritime RADAR Surveillance","volume":"36","author":"McDonald","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE J. Ocean. Eng."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2275","DOI":"10.1109\/TSP.2009.2014277","article-title":"High-Resolution Radar via Compressed Sensing","volume":"57","author":"Herman","year":"2009","journal-title":"Trans. Sig. Proc."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5406","DOI":"10.1109\/TIT.2006.885507","article-title":"Near-Optimal Signal Recovery From Random Projections: Universal Encoding Strategies?","volume":"52","author":"Candes","year":"2006","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"21","DOI":"10.1109\/MSP.2007.914731","article-title":"An Introduction To Compressive Sampling","volume":"25","author":"Candes","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Signal Process. Mag."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1289","DOI":"10.1109\/TIT.2006.871582","article-title":"Compressed sensing","volume":"52","author":"Donoho","year":"2006","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Baraniuk, R., and Steeghs, P. (2007, January 17\u201320). Compressive Radar Imaging. Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE Radar Conference, Waltham, MA, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/RADAR.2007.374203"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"291","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER12022001","article-title":"Adaptive clutter suppression for airborne random pulse repetition interval radar based on compressed sensing","volume":"128","author":"Liu","year":"2012","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"133","DOI":"10.2528\/PIERL12010702","article-title":"Compressive Sensing Based Parameter Estimation for Monostatic MIMO Noise Radar","volume":"30","author":"Yang","year":"2012","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res. Lett."},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Grossi, E., Lops, M., and Venturino, L. (2012, January 4\u20137). A track-before-detect procedure for sparse data. Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE Statistical Signal Processing Workshop (SSP), Arbor, MI, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/SSP.2012.6319818"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"433","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER13022006","article-title":"Compressed Sensing Based Track before Detect Algorithm for Airborne Radars","volume":"138","author":"Liu","year":"2013","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"285","DOI":"10.2528\/PIERB12041715","article-title":"ISAR Imaging of Non-Uniform Rotation Targets with Limited Pulses via Compressed Sensing","volume":"41","author":"Liu","year":"2012","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res. B"},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER12082305","article-title":"Sparse array microwave 3-D imaging: Compressed sensing recovery and experimental study","volume":"135","author":"Wei","year":"2013","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"259","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER12021307","article-title":"Applications of compressed sensing for multiple transmitters multiple azimuth beams SAR imaging","volume":"127","author":"Li","year":"2012","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res."},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"527","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER11121101","article-title":"A novel image formation algorithm for high-resolution wide-swath spaceborne SAR using compressed sensing on azimuth displacement phase center antenna","volume":"125","author":"Chen","year":"2012","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"299","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER11033105","article-title":"Linear array SAR imaging via compressed sensing","volume":"117","author":"Wei","year":"2011","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res."},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"63","DOI":"10.2528\/PIER10080805","article-title":"Sparse reconstruction for SAR imaging based on compressed sensing","volume":"109","author":"Wei","year":"2010","journal-title":"Prog. Electromagn. Res."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1088","DOI":"10.1109\/TSP.2010.2096218","article-title":"Sparse Learning via Iterative Minimization With Application to MIMO Radar Imaging","volume":"59","author":"Tan","year":"2011","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Signal Process."},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"512","DOI":"10.1049\/iet-rsn.2018.5102","article-title":"HRR profile estimation using SLIM","volume":"13","author":"Addabbo","year":"2019","journal-title":"IET Radar Sonar Navig."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1172","DOI":"10.1109\/TAES.2019.2929968","article-title":"New ECCM Techniques Against Noiselike and\/or Coherent Interferers","volume":"56","author":"Yan","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Aerosp. Electron. Syst."},{"key":"ref_43","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"4655","DOI":"10.1109\/TIT.2007.909108","article-title":"Signal Recovery From Random Measurements Via Orthogonal Matching Pursuit","volume":"53","author":"Tropp","year":"2007","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory"},{"key":"ref_44","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"301","DOI":"10.1016\/j.acha.2008.07.002","article-title":"CoSaMP: Iterative signal recovery from incomplete and inaccurate samples","volume":"26","author":"Needell","year":"2009","journal-title":"Appl. Comput. Harmon. Anal."},{"key":"ref_45","unstructured":"Galati, G., Mazzenga, F., and Naldi, M. (1996). Elementi di Sistemi Radar, Aracne."},{"key":"ref_46","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gelman, A., Carlin, J.B., Stern, H.S., and Rubin, D.B. (2004). Bayesian Data Analysis, Chapman and Hall\/CRC. [2nd ed.].","DOI":"10.1201\/9780429258480"},{"key":"ref_47","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Robert, C.P., and Casella, G. (2005). Monte Carlo Statistical Methods (Springer Texts in Statistics), Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-1-4757-4145-2"},{"key":"ref_48","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"36","DOI":"10.1109\/MSP.2004.1311138","article-title":"Model-order selection: A review of information criterion rules","volume":"21","author":"Stoica","year":"2004","journal-title":"IEEE Signal Process. Mag."},{"key":"ref_49","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"129","DOI":"10.1109\/TIT.1982.1056489","article-title":"Least squares quantization in PCM","volume":"28","author":"Lloyd","year":"1982","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory"},{"key":"ref_50","first-page":"281","article-title":"Some Methods for Classification and Analysis of Multivariate Observations","volume":"Volume 1","author":"Neyman","year":"1967","journal-title":"Proceedings of the 5th Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical Statistics and Probability"},{"key":"ref_51","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"153","DOI":"10.1002\/bs.3830120210","article-title":"A clustering technique for summarizing multivariate data","volume":"12","author":"Ball","year":"1967","journal-title":"Behav. Sci."},{"key":"ref_52","unstructured":"Lockheed Martin Corporation (2013). AN\/FPS-117 Long-Range Air Surveillance Radars, Lockheed Martin Corporation. Technical Report."},{"key":"ref_53","unstructured":"Bartolic, J. (2021, January 11). Near Field Measurements of the FPS-117 Solid-State Phased Array Antenna (Part I)-Self-Oscillating Antennas and Arrays (Part II). Available online: https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/305969338."},{"key":"ref_54","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Karaku\u015f, C., and G\u00fcrb\u00fcz, A.C. (2011, January 20\u201322). Comparison of iterative sparse recovery algorithms. Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE 19th Signal Processing and Communications Applications Conference (SIU), Antalya, Turkey.","DOI":"10.1109\/SIU.2011.5929786"}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/13\/4\/662\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T05:23:19Z","timestamp":1760160199000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/13\/4\/662"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,12]]},"references-count":54,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2]]}},"alternative-id":["rs13040662"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs13040662","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,12]]}}}