DESIGN, PERFORMANCE, AND APPLICATIONS OF A COHERENT ULTRA-WIDE-BAND RANDOM NOISE RADAR

A novel coherent ultra-wideband radar system operating in the 1- to 2- GHz frequency range has been developed recently at the University of N ebraska. The radar system transmits white Gaussian noise. Detection an d localization of buried objects is accomplished by correlating the re flected waveform with a time-delayed replica of the transmitted wavefo rm. Broadband dual-polarized log-periodic antennas are used for transm ission and reception. A unique signal-processing scheme is used to inj ect coherence into the system by frequency translation of the ultrawid eband signal by a coherent 160-MHz phase-locked source prior to perfor ming heterodyne correlation. The system coherence allows the extractio n of a target's polarimetric amplitude and phase characteristics. This paper describes the unique design features of the radar system, devel ops the theoretical foundations of noise polarimetry, provides experim ental evidence of the polarimetric and resolution capabilities of the system, and demonstrates results obtained in subsurface probing applic ations. (C) 1998 Society of Photo-Optical instrumentation Engineers. [ S0091-3286(98)03106-7].