FMCW rail-mounted SAR: Porting spotlight SAR imaging from MATLAB to FPGA

In this work, a low-cost laptop-based radar platform derived from the MIT open courseware has been implemented. It can perform ranging, Doppler measurement and SAR imaging using MATLAB as the processor. In this work, porting the signal processing algorithms onto a FPGA platform will be addressed as well as differences between results obtained using MATLAB and those obtained using the FPGA platform. The target FPGA platforms were a Virtex6 DSP kit and Spartan3A starter kit, the latter was also low-cost to further reduce the cost for students to access radar technology

Design Of Polynomial-based Filters For Continuously Variable Sample Rate Conversion With Applications In Synthetic Instrumentati

In this work, the design and application of Polynomial-Based Filters (PBF) for continuously variable Sample Rate Conversion (SRC) is studied. The major contributions of this work are summarized as follows. First, an explicit formula for the Fourier Transform of both a symmetrical and nonsymmetrical PBF impulse response with variable basis function coefficients is derived. In the literature only one explicit formula is given, and that for a symmetrical even length filter with fixed basis function coefficients. The frequency domain optimization of PBFs via linear programming has been proposed in the literature, however, the algorithm was not detailed nor were explicit formulas derived. In this contribution, a minimax optimization procedure is derived for the frequency domain optimization of a PBF with time-domain constraints. Explicit formulas are given for direct input to a linear programming routine. Additionally, accompanying Matlab code implementing this optimization in terms of the derived formulas is given in the appendix. In the literature, it has been pointed out that the frequency response of the Continuous-Time (CT) filter decays as frequency goes to infinity. It has also been observed that when implemented in SRC, the CT filter is sampled resulting in CT frequency response aliasing. Thus, for example, the stopband sidelobes of the Discrete-Time (DT) implementation rise above the CT designed level. Building on these observations, it is shown how the rolloff rate of the frequency response of a PBF can be adjusted by adding continuous derivatives to the impulse response. This is of great advantage, especially when the PBF is used for decimation as the aliasing band attenuation can be made to increase with frequency. It is shown how this technique can be used to dramatically reduce the effect of alias build up in the passband. In addition, it is shown that as the number of continuous derivatives of the PBF increases the resulting DT implementation more closely matches the Continuous-Time (CT) design. When implemented for SRC, samples from a PBF impulse response are computed by evaluating the polynomials using a so-called fractional interval, µ. In the literature, the effect of quantizing µ on the frequency response of the PBF has been studied. Formulas have been derived to determine the number of bits required to keep frequency response distortion below prescribed bounds. Elsewhere, a formula has been given to compute the number of bits required to represent µ to obtain a given SRC accuracy for rational factor SRC. In this contribution, it is shown how these two apparently competing requirements are quite independent. In fact, it is shown that the wordlength required for SRC accuracy need only be kept in the µ generator which is a single accumulator. The output of the µ generator may then be truncated prior to polynomial evaluation. This results in significant computational savings, as polynomial evaluation can require several multiplications and additions. Under the heading of applications, a new Wideband Digital Downconverter (WDDC) for Synthetic Instruments (SI) is introduced. DDCs first tune to a signal\u27s center frequency using a numerically controlled oscillator and mixer, and then zoom-in to the bandwidth of interest using SRC. The SRC is required to produce continuously variable output sample rates from a fixed input sample rate over a large range. Current implementations accomplish this using a pre-filter, an arbitrary factor resampler, and integer decimation filters. In this contribution, the SRC of the WDDC is simplified reducing the computational requirements to a factor of three or more. In addition to this, it is shown how this system can be used to develop a novel computationally efficient FFT-based spectrum analyzer with continuously variable frequency spans. Finally, after giving the theoretical foundation, a real Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation of a novel Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) is presented. The new approach uses a fixed Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) sample clock in combination with an arbitrary factor interpolator. Waveforms created at any sample rate are interpolated to the fixed DAC sample rate in real-time. As a result, the additional lower performance analog hardware required in current approaches, namely, multiple reconstruction filters and/or additional sample clocks, is avoided. Measured results are given confirming the performance of the system predicted by the theoretical design and simulation

실시간 근거리 영상화를 위한 MIMO 역합성 개구 레이더 시스템

학위논문(박사) -- 서울대학교대학원 : 공과대학 전기·정보공학부, 2022. 8. 남상욱.Microwave and millimeter wave (micro/mmW) imaging systems have advantages over other imaging systems in that they have penetration properties over non-metallic structures and non-ionization. However, these systems are commercially applicable in limited areas. Depending on the quality and size of the images, a system can be expensive and images cannot be provided in real-time. To overcome the challenges of the current micro/mmW imaging system, it is critical to suggest a new system concept and prove its potential benefits and hazards by demonstrating the testbed. This dissertation presents Ku1DMIC, a wide-band micro/mmW imaging system using Ku-band and 1D-MIMO array, which can overcome the challenges above. For cost-effective 3D imaging capabilities, Ku1DMIC uses 1D-MIMO array configuration and inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) technique. At the same time, Ku1DMIC supports real-time data acquisition through a system-level design of a seamless interface with frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar. To show the feasibility of 3D imaging with Ku1DMIC and its real-time capabilities, an accelerated imaging algorithm, 1D-MIMO-ISAR RSA, is proposed and demonstrated. The detailed contributions of the dissertation are as follows. First, this dissertation presents Ku1DMIC – a Ku-band MIMO frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar experimental platform with real-time 2D near-field imaging capabilities. The proposed system uses Ku-band to cover the wider illumination area given the limited number of antennas and uses a fast ramp and wide-band FMCW waveform for rapid radar data acquisition while providing high-resolution images. The key design aspect behind the platform is stability, reconfigurability, and real-time capabilities, which allows investigating the exploration of the system’s strengths and weaknesses. To satisfy the design aspect, a digitally assisted platform is proposed and realized based on an AMD-Xilinx UltraScale+ Radio Frequency System on Chip (RFSoC). The experimental investigation for real-time 2D imaging has proved the ability of video-rate imaging at around 60 frames per second. Second, a waveform digital pre-distortion (DPD) method and calibration method are proposed to enhance the image quality. Even if a clean FMCW waveform is generated with the aid of the optimized waveform generator, the signal will inevitably suffer from distortion, especially in the RF subsystem of the platform. In near-field imaging applications, the waveform DPD is not effective at suppressing distortion in wide-band FMCW radar systems. To solve this issue, the LO-DPD architecture and binary search based DPD algorithm are proposed to make the waveform DPD effective in Ku1DMIC. Furthermore, an image-domain optimization correction method is proposed to compensate for the remaining errors that cannot be eliminated by the waveform DPD. For robustness to various unwanted signals such as noise and clutter signals, two regularized least squares problems are applied and compared: the generalized Tikhonov regularization and the total variation (TV) regularization. Through various 2D imaging experiments, it is confirmed that both methods can enhance the image quality by reducing the sidelobe level. Lastly, the research is conducted to realize real-time 3D imaging by applying the ISAR technique to Ku1DMIC. The realization of real-time 3D imaging using 1D-MIMO array configuration is impactful in that this configuration can significantly reduce the costs of the 3D imaging system and enable imaging of moving objects. To this end, the signal model for the 1D-MIMO-ISAR configuration is presented, and then the 1D-MIMO-ISAR range stacking algorithm (RSA) is proposed to accelerate the imaging reconstruction process. The proposed 1D-MIMO-ISAR RSA can reconstruct images within hundreds of milliseconds while maintaining almost the same image quality as the back-projection algorithm, bringing potential use for real-time 3D imaging. It also describes strategies for setting ROI, considering the real-world situations in which objects enter and exit the field of view, and allocating GPU memory. Extensive simulations and experiments have demonstrated the feasibility and potential benefits of 1D-MIMO-IASR configuration and 1D-MIMO-ISAR RSA.마이크로파 및 밀리미터파(micro/mmW) 영상화 시스템은 비금속 구조 및 비이온화에 비해 침투 특성이 있다는 점에서 다른 이미징 시스템에 비해 장점이 있다. 그러나 이러한 시스템은 제한된 영역에서만 상업적으로 적용되고 있다. 이미지의 품질과 크기에 따라 시스템이 매우 고가일 수 있으며 이미지를 실시간으로 제공할 수 없는 현황이다. 현재의 micro/mmW 이미징 시스템의 문제를 극복하려면 새로운 시스템 개념을 제안하고 테스트베드를 시연하여 잠재적인 이점과 위험을 입증하는 것이 중요하다. 본 논문에서는 Ku-band와 1D-MIMO 어레이를 이용한 광대역 micro/mmW 이미징 시스템인 Ku1DMIC를 제안하여 위와 같은 문제점을 극복할 수 있다. 비용 효율적인 3차원 영상화 기능을 위해 Ku1DMIC는 1D-MIMO 배열 기술과 ISAR(Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar) 기술을 사용한다. 동시에 Ku1DMIC는 주파수 변조 연속파 (FMCW) 레이더와의 원활한 인터페이스의 시스템 수준 설계를 통해 실시간 데이터 수집을 지원한다. Ku1DMIC를 사용한 3차원 영상화의 구현 및 실시간 기능의 가능성을 보여주기 위해, 2차원 영상화를 위한 1D-MIMO RSA과 3차원 영상화를 위한 1D-MIMO-ISAR RSA가 제안되고 Ku1DMIC에서 구현된다. 따라서, 본 학위 논문의 주요 기여는 Ku-band 1D-MIMO 배열 기반 영상화 시스템 프로토타입을 개발 및 테스트하고, ISAR 기반 3차원 영상화 기능을 검사하고, 실시간 3차원 영상화 가능성을 조사하는 것이다. 이에 대한 세부적인 기여 항목은 다음과 같다. 첫째, 실시간 2D 근거리장 이미징 기능을 갖춘 Ku 대역 MIMO 주파수 변조 연속파(FMCW) 레이더 실험 플랫폼인 Ku1DMIC를 제시한다. 제안하는 시스템은 제한된 수의 안테나에서 더 넓은 조명 영역을 커버하기 위해 Ku 대역을 사용하고 고해상도 이미지를 제공하면서 빠른 레이더 데이터 수집을 위해 고속 램프 및 광대역 FMCW 파형을 사용한다. 플랫폼의 핵심 설계 원칙은 안정성, 재구성 가능성 및 실시간 기능으로 시스템의 강점과 약점을 광범위하게 탐색한다. 설계 원칙을 만족시키기 위해 AMD-Xilinx UltraScale+ RFSoC(Radio Frequency System on Chip)를 기반으로 디지털 지원 플랫폼을 제안하고 구현한다. 실시간 2D 이미징에 대한 실험적 조사는 초당 약 60프레임에서 비디오 속도 이미징의 능력을 입증했다. 둘째, 영상 품질 향상을 위한 파형 디지털 전치왜곡(DPD) 방법과 보정 방법을 제안한다. 최적화된 파형 발생기의 도움으로 깨끗한 FMCW 파형이 생성되더라도 특히 플랫폼의 RF 하위 시스템에서 신호는 필연적으로 왜곡을 겪게된다. 근거리 영상화 응용 분야에서는 파형 DPD는 광대역 FMCW 레이더 시스템의 왜곡을 억제하는 데 효과적이지 않다. 이 문제를 해결하기 위해 Ku1DMIC에서 파형 DPD가 유효하도록 LO-DPD 아키텍처와 이진 탐색 기반 DPD 알고리즘을 제안한다. 또한, 파형 DPD로 제거할 수 없는 나머지 오류를 보상하기 위해 이미지 영역 최적화 보정 방법을 제안한다. 노이즈 및 클러터 신호와 같은 다양한 원치 않는 신호에 대한 견고성을 위해 일반화된 Tikhonov 정규화 및 전체 변동(TV) 정규화라는 두 가지 정규화된 최소 자승 문제를 적용 후 비교한다. 다양한 2차원 영상화 실험을 통해 두 방법 모두 부엽 레벨을 줄여 화질을 향상시킬 수 있음을 확인한다. 마지막으로, ISAR 기법을 2차원 영상 플랫폼에 적용하여 실시간 3차원 영상을 구현하기 위한 연구를 진행한다. 1D-MIMO-ISAR 구성에서 실시간 3D 이미징의 구현은 이러한 구성이 3D 이미징 시스템의 비용을 크게 줄일 수 있다는 점에서 영향력이 있다. 따라서 이 논문에서는 1D-MIMO-ISAR 구성에 대한 이미징 재구성을 가속화하기 위해 1D-MIMO-ISAR 범위 스태킹 알고리즘(RSA)을 제안한다. 제안된 1D-MIMO-ISAR RSA는 널리 알려진 Back-Projection 알고리즘과 거의 동일한 이미지 품질을 유지하면서도 수백 밀리초 이내에 이미지를 재구성함으로써 실시간 영상화에 대한 가능성을 보여준다. 또한 물체가 시야에 들어오고 나가는 실제 상황을 고려하기 위한 ROI 설정, 그리고 메모리 할당에 대한 전략을 설명한다. 광범위한 시뮬레이션과 실험을 통해 1D-MIMO-IASR 구성 및 1D-MIMO-ISAR RSA의 가능성과 잠재적 이점을 확인한다.1 INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Microwave and millimeter-wave imaging 1 1.2 Imaging with radar system 2 1.3 Challenges and motivation 5 1.4 Outline of the dissertation 8 2 FUNDAMENTAL OF TWO-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING USING A MIMO RADAR 9 2.1 Signal model 9 2.2 Consideration of waveform 12 2.3 Image reconstruction algorithm 16 2.3.1 Back-projection algorithm 16 2.3.2 1D-MIMO range-migration algorithm 20 2.3.3 1D-MIMO range stacking algorithm 27 2.4 Sampling criteria and resolution 31 2.5 Simulation results 36 3 MIMO-FMCW RADAR IMPLEMENTATION WITH 16 TX - 16 RX ONE- DIMENSIONAL ARRAYS 46 3.1 Wide-band FMCW waveform generator architecture 46 3.2 Overall system architecture 48 3.3 Antenna and RF transceiver module 53 3.4 Wide-band FMCW waveform generator 55 3.5 FPGA-based digital hardware design 63 3.6 System integration and software design 71 3.7 Testing and measurement 75 3.7.1 Chirp waveform measurement 75 3.7.2 Range profile measurement 77 3.7.3 2-D imaging test 79 4 METHODS OF IMAGE QUALITY ENHANCEMENT 84 4.1 Signal model 84 4.2 Digital pre-distortion of chirp signal 86 4.2.1 Proposed DPD hardware system 86 4.2.2 Proposed DPD algorithm 88 4.2.3 Measurement results 90 4.3 Robust calibration method for signal distortion 97 4.3.1 Signal model 98 4.3.2 Problem formulation 99 4.3.3 Measurement results 105 5 THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING USING 1-D ARRAY SYSTEM AND ISAR TECHNIQUE 110 5.1 Formulation for 1D-MIMO-ISAR RSA 111 5.2 Algorithm implementation 114 5.3 Simulation results 120 5.4 Experimental results 122 6 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK 127 6.1 Conclusions 127 6.2 Future work 129 6.2.1 Effects of antenna polarization in the Ku-band 129 6.2.2 Forward-looking near-field ISAR configuration 130 6.2.3 Estimation of the movement errors in ISAR configuration 131 Abstract (In Korean) 145 Acknowlegement 148박

Design and Implementation of a FPGA and DSP Based MIMO Radar Imaging System

The work presented in this paper is aimed at the implementation of a real-time multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) imaging radar used for area surveillance. In this radar, the equivalent virtual array method and time-division technique are applied to make 16 virtual elements synthesized from the MIMO antenna array. The chirp signal generater is based on a combination of direct digital synthesizer (DDS) and phase locked loop (PLL). A signal conditioning circuit is used to deal with the coupling effect within the array. The signal processing platform is based on an efficient field programmable gates array (FPGA) and digital signal processor (DSP) pipeline where a robust beamforming imaging algorithm is running on. The radar system was evaluated through a real field experiment. Imaging capability and real-time performance shown in the results demonstrate the practical feasibility of the implementation

AWG Having Arbitrary Factor Interpolator and Fixed Frequency DAC Sampling Clock

An AWG includes a waveform memory providing a digital waveform signal at a sample rate and an arbitrary factor interpolator (AFI) coupled to receive the digital waveform signal or a processed digital waveform signal. A complex mixer for carrier modulation is coupled to the AFI which outputs a complex band pass signal. A DAC is coupled to an ouput of the complex mixer for receiving the complex band pass signal to provide an analog output signal. A fixed frequency sample clock clocks the DAC to provide a fixed DAC sample rate. The DAC provides a data clock signal to a sample request controller that generates a sample request signal that is coupled to the waveform memory for requesting the digital waveform signal form the waveform memory. The interpolated digital signal is sampled at the fixed DAC sample rate independent of the sample rate of digital waveform signal

Development of FPGA controlled diagnostics on the MAST fusion reactor

Field Programmable Gate Array technology (FPGA) is very useful for implementing high performance digital signal processing algorithms, data acquisition and real-time control on nuclear fusion devices. This thesis presents the work done using FPGAs to develop powerful diagnostics. This has been achieved by developing embedded Linux and running it on the FPGA to enhance diagnostic capabilities such as remote management, PLC communications over the ModBus protocol and UDP based ethernet streaming. A closed loop real-time feedback prototype has been developed for combining laser beams onto a single beam path, for improving overall repetition rates of Thomson Scattering systems used for plasma electron temperature and density radial profile measurements. A controllable frequency sweep generator is used to drive the Toroidal Alfven Eigenmode (TAE) antenna system and results are presented indicating successful TAE resonance detection. A fast data acquisition system has been developed for the Electron Bernstein Wave (EBW) Synthetic Aperture Microwave Imaging system and an active probing microwave source where the FPGA clock rate has been pushed to the maximum. Propagation delays on the order of 2 nanoseconds in the FPGA have been finely tuned with careful placement of FPGA logic using a custom logic placement tool. Intensity interferometry results are presented on the EBW system with a suggestion for phase insensitive pitch angle measurement

A DETECTION AND DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEM FOR PRECISION BETA DECAY SPECTROSCOPY

Free neutron and nuclear beta decay spectroscopy serves as a robust laboratory for investigations of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Observables such as decay product angular correlations and energy spectra overconstrain the Standard Model and serve as a sensitive probe for Beyond the Standard Model physics. Improved measurement of these quantities is necessary to complement the TeV scale physics being conducted at the Large Hadron Collider. The UCNB, 45Ca, and Nab experiments aim to improve upon existing measurements of free neutron decay angular correlations and set new limits in the search for exotic couplings in beta decay. To achieve these experimental goals, a highly-pixelated, thick silicon detector with a 100 nm entrance window has been developed for precision beta spectroscopy and the direct detection of 30 keV beta decay protons. The detector has been characterized for its performance in energy reconstruction and particle arrival time determination. A Monte Carlo simulation of signal formation in the silicon detector and propagation through the electronics chain has been written to develop optimal signal analysis algorithms for minimally biased energy and timing extraction. A tagged-electron timing test has been proposed and investigated as a means to assess the validity of these Monte Carlo efforts. A universal platform for data acquisition (DAQ) has been designed and implemented in National Instrument\u27s PXIe-5171R digitizer/FPGA hardware. The DAQ retains a ring buffer of the most recent 400 ms of data in all 256 channels, so that a waveform trace can be returned from any combination of pixels and resolution for complete energy reconstruction. Low-threshold triggers on individual channels were implemented in FPGA as a generic piecewise-polynomial filter for universal, real-time digital signal processing, which allows for arbitrary filter implementation on a pixel-by-pixel basis. This system is universal in the sense that it has complete flexible, complex, and debuggable triggering at both the pixel and global level without recompiling the firmware. The culmination of this work is a system capable of a 10 keV trigger threshold, 3 keV resolution, and maximum 300 ps arrival time systematic, even in the presence of large amplitude noise components

Noise radar technology: Waveforms design and field trials

Performance of continuous emission noise radar systems are affected by the sidelobes of the output of the matched filter, with significant effects on detection and dynamic range. Hence, the sidelobe level has to be controlled by a careful design of the transmitted waveform and of the transmit/receive parts of the radar. In this context, the average transmitted power has to be optimized by choosing waveforms with a peak-to-average power ratio as close to the unity as possible. However, after coherent demodulation and acquisition of the received signal and of the reference signal at the transmitting antenna port, the goodness (low sidelobes) of the output from the matched filter can be considerably reduced by the deleterious effects due to the radar hardware, including the analog-to-digital converter (ADC). This paper aims to solve the above problems from both the theoretical and the practical viewpoint and recommends the use of tailored waveforms for mitigating the dynamic range issues. The new findings are corroborated by the results from two noise radar demonstrators operating in Germany (rural environment) and in Turkey (coast and sea environment) and the related lessons learnt

An Alternate Control Scheme for Reconfigurable Virtual Instruments

The widespread usage of personal computers in many scientific and technological fields makes them an ideal hardware and software platform for the implementation of measurement instruments. Reconfigurable virtual instruments are implemented using a universal general purpose reconfigurable hardware whose functionality is defined by the measurement requirement. It is a versatile hardware device that can be reconfigured into different electronic instruments using a software tool. A high-level software application runs on the PC and provides a user interface to the operator who can select a virtual instrument (e.g. digital oscilloscope, arbitrary waveform generator, logic analyzer, digital filter?) from a library of instruments and configures the RVI system to convert it into the selected instrument with its associated console. The speech recognition interface enhances the ability of the operator to control various system components without manually navigating the graphical user interface (GUI). Several options were considered during the analysis but only one option proved to be optimal. The solution described in this paper uses the NXP semiconductors ARMLPC2148 microcontroller to handle all speech recognition calculations. The GUI control system runs on the main PC processor and the controlled instruments are attached to the system through RS232 interface. Speech recognition performance analysis is done for both PC based approach and dedicated hardware based approach in terms of realizing and controlling the VIs and the results are compared

Design of a Mobile Transceiver for Precision Indoor Location

This thesis documents the design and implementation process for the next generation of the WPI Precision Personnel Location (PPL) system hardware. The driving goal of the new hardware was to support a new method of radio frequency location developed at WPI referred to as Transactional Array Reconciliation Tomography (TART). This new method is based on a time of arrival (TOA) technique as opposed to the previous Singular Value Array Reconciliation Tomography (SART), which uses time difference of arrival (TDOA). The use of a TOA method requires additional timing information and necessitates a bidirectional (transmit and receive) multicarrier transaction. The design of the new transceiver that can function as both a mobile locator and a static reference unit is the main focus of this thesis. This redesign also addressed previous hardware issues that have been exposed through extensive use in real world testing