  Precise localization and tracking of moving non-collaborative persons and
objects using a network of ultra-wideband (UWB) radar nodes has been shown to
represent a practical and effective approach. In UWB radar sensor networks
(RSNs), existence of strong clutter, weak target echoes, and closely spaced
targets are obstacles to achieving a satisfactory tracking performance. Using a
track-before-detect (TBD) approach, the waveform obtained by each node during a
time period are jointly processed. Both spatial information and temporal
relationship between measurements are exploited in generating all possible
candidate trajectories and only the best trajectories are selected as the
outcome. The effectiveness of the developed TBD technique for UWB RSNs is
confirmed by numerical simulations and by two experimental results, both
carried out with actual UWB signals. In the first experiment, a human target is
tracked by a monostatic radar network with an average localization error of
41.9 cm with no false alarm trajectory in a cluttered outdoor environment. In
the second experiment, two targets are detected by multistatic radar network
with localization errors of 25.4 cm and 19.7 cm, and detection rate of the two
targets is 88.75%, and no false alarm trajectory.
