A Neural Network Approach for Waveform Generation and Selection with Multi-Mission Radar

Nonlinear frequency modulated (NLFM) pulse compression waveforms have become a mainstream methodology for radars across multiple sectors and missions, including weather observation, target tracking, and target detection. NLFM affords the ability to generate a low-sidelobe autocorrelation function and matched filter while avoiding aggressive amplitude modulation, resulting in more power incident on the target. This capability can lead to significantly lower system design costs due to the possibility of sensitivity gains on the order of 3 dB or more compared with traditional, amplitude-modulated linear frequency modulated (LFM) waveforms. Generation of an optimal NLFM waveform, however, can be an arduous task, and may involve complex optimization and non-closed-form solutions. For a multi-mission or cognitive radar, which may utilize a wide combination of frequencies, pulse lengths, and amplitude modulations (among other factors), this could lead to an extremely large waveform table for selection. This paper takes a neural network approach to this problem by optimizing a set of over 100 waveforms spanning a wide space and using the results to interpolate the waveform possibilities to a higher resolution. A modified form of a previous NLFM method is combined with a four-hidden-layer neural network to show the integrated and peak range sidelobes of the generated waveforms across the model training space. The results are applicable to multi-mission and cognitive radars that need precise waveform specifications in rapid succession. The expected waveform generation times are addressed and quantified, and the potential applicability to multi-mission and cognitive radars is discussed

Signal design and processing for noise radar

An efficient and secure use of the electromagnetic spectrum by different telecommunications and radar systems represents, today, a focal research point, as the coexistence of different radio-frequency sources at the same time and in the same frequency band requires the solution of a non-trivial interference problem. Normally, this is addressed with diversity in frequency, space, time, polarization, or code. In some radar applications, a secure use of the spectrum calls for the design of a set of transmitted waveforms highly resilient to interception and exploitation, i.e., with low probability of intercept/ exploitation capability. In this frame, the noise radar technology (NRT) transmits noise-like waveforms and uses correlation processing of radar echoes for their optimal reception. After a review of the NRT as developed in the last decades, the aim of this paper is to show that NRT can represent a valid solution to the aforesaid problems

Ultra low range sidelobe level pulse compression waveform design for spaceborne meteorological radars.

Meteorological measurements from spaceborne radars present several advantages over current passive techniques, due to the radar capability to discriminate backscattered energy in range. However, the system configuration imposes stringent design requirements in order to guarantee cloud and rain detectability, in particular on the radar waveform. Since power is severely restricted on board a satellite, it is necessary to achieve an efficient range resolution with low transmitted power requirements. Pulse compression theory solves the previous conflicting demand, but the transmitted signal needs to be carefully designed in order to allow the significantly large dynamic range (between 60 and 80 dB depending on the type of meteorological target) needed to carry out the measurements. Several pulse compression range sidelobe reduction techniques of differing natures have been investigated and reported in the literature during the past 50 years. A detailed survey of the most relevant range sidelobe supression procedures has been carried out in order to identify the most suitable frequency modulation candidates which are potentially capable of meeting the stringent specifications of spaceborne radar meteorology. Novel pulse compression waveform design techniques have also been developed, employing linear FM predistortion functions and asymmetric frequency modulation laws, which provide excellent performance in terms of range sidelobe level (below -60 dB) and Doppler tolerance. Different options for the provision of a rain mode for the RA-2 Radar Altimeter (due to fly on European Space Agency ENVISAT satellite) are described, based on altimetry linear FM full-deramp technique concepts. Finally, amplitude modulated pulse compression waveform design alternatives are analysed for the MACSIM radar (Millimetre wave Active Cloud Structure Imaging Mission, European Space Agency Pre Phase A Study), which allow to measure different type of clouds within the Mission required radiometric resolution accuracy

Performance of frequency and/or phase modulated excitation waveforms for optical infrared thermography of CFRPs through thermal wave radar : a simulation study

Following the developments in pulse compression techniques for increased range resolution and higher signal to noise ratio of radio wave radar systems, the concept of thermal wave radar (TWR) was introduced for enhanced depth resolvability in optical infrared thermography. However, considering the highly dispersive and overly damped behavior of heat wave, it is essential to systematically address both the opportunities and the limitations of the approach. In this regard, this paper is dedicated to a detailed analysis of the performance of TWR in inspection of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) through frequency and/or phase modulation of the excitation waveform. In addition to analogue frequency modulated (sweep) and discrete phase modulated (Barker binary coded) waveforms, a new discrete frequency-phase modulated (FPM) excitation waveform is introduced. All waveforms are formulated based on a central frequency so that their performance can be fairly compared to each other and to lock-in thermography at the same frequency. Depth resolvability of the waveforms, in terms of phase and lag of TWR, is firstly analyzed by an analytical solution to the 1D heat wave problem, and further by 3D finite element analysis which takes into account the anisotropic heat diffusivity of CFRPs, the non-uniform heating induced by the optical source and the measurement noise. The spectrum of the defect-induced phase contrast is calculated and, in view of that, the critical influence of the chosen central frequency and the laminate’s thickness on the performance of TWR is discussed. Various central frequencies are examined and the outstanding performance of TWR at relatively high excitation frequencies is highlighted, particularly when approaching the so-called blind frequency of a defect

WAVEFORM AND TRANSCEIVER OPTIMIZATION FOR MULTI-FUNCTIONAL AIRBORNE RADAR THROUGH ADAPTIVE PROCESSING

Pulse compression techniques have been widely used for target detection and remote sensing. The primary concern for pulse compression is the sidelobe interference. Waveform design is an important method to improve the sidelobe performance. As a multi-functional aircraft platform in aviation safety domain, ADS-B system performs functions involving detection, localization and alerting of external traffic. In this work, a binary phase modulation is introduced to convert the original 1090 MHz ADS-B signal waveform into a radar signal. Both the statistical and deterministic models of new waveform are developed and analyzed. The waveform characterization, optimization and its application are studied in details. An alternative way to achieve low sidelobe levels without trading o range resolution and SNR is the adaptive pulse compression - RMMSE (Reiterative Minimum Mean-Square error). Theoretically, RMMSE is able to suppress the sidelobe level down to the receiver noise floor. However, the application of RMMSE to actual radars and the related implementation issues have not been investigated before. In this work, implementation aspects of RMMSE such as waveform sensitivity, noise immunity and computational complexity are addressed. Results generated by applying RMMSE to both simulated and measured radar data are presented and analyzed. Furthermore, a two-dimensional RMMSE algorithm is derived to mitigate the sidelobe effects from both pulse compression processing and antenna radiation pattern. In addition, to achieve even better control of the sidelobe level, a joint transmit and receive optimization scheme (JTRO) is proposed, which reduces the impacts of HPA nonlinearity and receiver distortion. Experiment results obtained with a Ku-band spaceborne radar transceiver testbed are presented

Waveform Design for Ground-Penetrating Radar

A ground-penetrating radar is being designed to find subterranean structures. This is difficult to do because of varying mediums. Having more bandwidth can help mitigate this problem. Because the frequency spectrum is so cluttered, one method to do this is to use non-contiguous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (NC-OFDM) to occupy several free areas of the spectrum. An NC-OFDM waveform was designed and optimized with respect to peak-to-average-power ratio, orthogonality, spectral leakage and autocorrelation sidelobes. Techniques such as the use of a Zadoff-Chu sequence and a gap filling algorithm were implemented to do this. The waveform was tested in simulation to show that while computationally expensive, this may be a viable waveform for ground-penetrating radar

Quasi-Orthogonal Wideband Radar Waveforms Based on Chaotic Systems

Many radar applications, such as those involving multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) radar, require sets of waveforms that are orthogonal, or nearly orthogonal. As shown in the work presented here, a set of nearly orthogonal waveforms with a high cardinality can be generated using chaotic systems, and this set performs comparably to other waveform sets used in pulse compression radar systems. Specifically, the nearly orthogonal waveforms from chaotic systems are shown to possess many desirable radar properties including a compact spectrum, low range sidelobes, and an average transmit power within a few dB of peak power. Moreover, these waveforms can be generated at essentially any practical time length and bandwidth. Since these waveforms are generated from a deterministic process, each waveform can be represented with a small number of system parameters. Additionally, assuming these waveforms possess a large time-bandwidth product, a high number of nearly orthogonal chaotic waveforms exist for a given time and bandwidth. Thus the proposed generation procedure can potentially be used to generate a new transmit waveform on each pulse.United States. Air Force (Contract FA8721-05-C-0002)Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Research Laboratory of ElectronicsBAE SystemsTexas Instruments Incorporated. Leadership University Consortium Progra

REAL-TIME ADAPTIVE PULSE COMPRESSION ON RECONFIGURABLE, SYSTEM-ON-CHIP (SOC) PLATFORMS

New radar applications need to perform complex algorithms and process a large quantity of data to generate useful information for the users. This situation has motivated the search for better processing solutions that include low-power high-performance processors, efficient algorithms, and high-speed interfaces. In this work, hardware implementation of adaptive pulse compression algorithms for real-time transceiver optimization is presented, and is based on a System-on-Chip architecture for reconfigurable hardware devices. This study also evaluates the performance of dedicated coprocessors as hardware accelerator units to speed up and improve the computation of computing-intensive tasks such matrix multiplication and matrix inversion, which are essential units to solve the covariance matrix. The tradeoffs between latency and hardware utilization are also presented. Moreover, the system architecture takes advantage of the embedded processor, which is interconnected with the logic resources through high-performance buses, to perform floating-point operations, control the processing blocks, and communicate with an external PC through a customized software interface. The overall system functionality is demonstrated and tested for real-time operations using a Ku-band testbed together with a low-cost channel emulator for different types of waveforms