ATP-3-09-12 Field Artillery Counterfire and Weapons Locating Radar Operations Download
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Appendix A A-6 ATP 3-09.12 26 October 2021 SUSPECT TARGET PROCESSING A-10. Suspect targets represent target information that has not passed target selection standards. This section discusses how AFATDS processes suspect targets after target selection standards failure. The operator may turn suspect target processing "on" or "off". When it is turned off, all suspect targets are simply added to the suspect target list with no further processing. When it is turned on, AFATDS evaluates each suspect target against other suspect targets to combine the new suspect target with an existing suspect target and generate a target with a better target location error and more current date time group. AFATDS applies the following considerations when identifying suspect targets for combination and applying the associated target data for the "new" (combined) target: Decay Time. Only suspect targets that have not passed their decay date time group are considered for combination. Target Type. Only targets with a similar type will be considered for combination. For example, an "Artillery, Unknown" target would not be combined with a "Building, Metal" target. Target Size. The target size and TLE, for the new or extracted suspect targets, is used to determine overlap. If an overlap exists between the new target and a single existing target and the overlap area meets or exceeds the operator established percentage of overlap required, then the two targets match. Basically, the overlap percentage tells AFATDS how close two targets must be (considering the area and TLE of each target) in order to combine them. Figure A-4 shows some examples of this comparison. Figure A-4. Suspect target overlap A-11. If multiple overlaps exists between the new suspect target and two or more existing suspect targets and each overlap area meets or exceeds the operator established percentage of overlap required, then the following rules apply: The suspect target with the greater degree of similarity to the new suspect target is combined with the new suspect target. If the degree of similarity is the same, the suspect target with the greater degree of overlap with the new suspect target is combined with the new suspect target. A-12. When two targets are combined, the new target is sent to target selection standards for further processing. Both of the "parent" targets (the two that were combined) are removed from the suspect target list. The operator may specify the "Overlap percent to be used by the AFATDS when considering targets for combination. A larger percentage (for example 75 percent) will result in fewer, but more accurate combinations than a smaller percentage (such as 25 percent). As with the target indicator list, the operator may decide to have the suspect target list purged of targets when their decay time date time group is passed. To do this, simply select the "automatically purge" option on the suspect target list window. Finally, the