Novel waveform and processing techniques for radar ambiguity reduction
Abstract
Reducing the delay-Doppler ambiguity and redistribution of ambiguity volume through waveform design has long been a goal of radar signal design. Motivated by the neural processing of echolocation waveforms by certain species of bats, we study an approach to the processing of radar signals. We propose a transmission strategy and a family of processing algorithms and evaluate the resulting delay-Doppler resolution characteristics. We study both the delay-Doppler ambiguity reduction and the generation of artifacts in the delay-Doppler maps generated by this approach. Because the resulting schemes are not optimal from detection point of view, we investigate the degradation in detection performance when compared to the matched filter. The contribution of the proposed strategies is a significant improvement in delay-Doppler resolution without a significant increase in system or computational complexity or a significant degradation in detection performance. We also consider the ambiguity volume manipulation in the delay-Doppler plane using staggered pulse trains and propose an efficient DFT based pulse Doppler processing receiver. Finally, in the emerging phased-MIMO radar context, we analyze the impact of transmit array partitioning into a set of subarrays on the overall transmit-receive beampattern. Our results indicate that for conventional beamforming, the overall transmit-receive beampattern is only a function of element overlapping across the subarrays, and not a function of the number of subarrays. We also investigate an element overlapping strategy that promises improved beampattern as compared to the traditional phased arrays.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Bell, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Electrical engineering
Off-Campus Purdue Users:
To access this dissertation, please log in to our
proxy server.