Biologically-inspired radar sensing

The natural world has an unquantifiable complexity and natural life exhibits remarkable techniques for responding to and interacting with the natural world. This thesis aims to find new approaches to radar systems by exploring the paradigm of biologically-inspired design to find effective ways of using the flexibility of modern radar systems. In particular, this thesis takes inspiration from the astonishing feats of human echolocators and the complex cognitive processes that underpin the human experience. Interdisciplinary research into human echolocator tongue clicks is presented before two biologically-inspired radar techniques are proposed, developed, and analyzed using simulations and experiments. The first radar technique uses the frequency-diversity of a radar system to localize targets in angle, and the second technique uses the degrees-of-freedom accessible to a mobile robotic platform to implement a cognitive radar architecture for obstacle avoidance and navigation