ULTRA-WIDE-BAND RADAR USING FOURIER SYNTHESIZED WAVE-FORMS

Traditional methods of ultra-wideband (UWB) radar signal generation su ffer from several disadvantages such as low antenna radiation efficien cy and lack of accurate control of signal parameters like pulse shape, pulse repetition interval (PRI), and its spectrum. UWB signals can be generated by expanding the desired radar waveform in Fourier series a nd then synthesizing the waveform by generating the individual terms i n the expansion from harmonically related oscillators, Signals thus pr oduced overcome the disadvantages of traditional methods of UWB signal generation. In this paper, Fourier series based method for generation of complex amplitude coded waveforms is developed which can be used t o generate time domain equivalent of Barker and other codes for applic ation in radar and communication areas. In radar applications, these c oded waveforms, with accurate and stable waveform parameters, shall al low pulse compression and coherent integration, The additional process ing gain provided by these operations reduces the need for high peak p ower in radar transmitters which is one of the bottlenecks in the impl ementation of operational UWB radars. This paper also describes a UWB radar concept which incorporates Fourier synthesized waveforms. Relate d digital signal processing issues are also discussed.