Tutorial: Fundamental Concepts in Radar Signal Processing

Presented by:
Dr. Mark A. Richards
Georgia Institute of Technology, USA

Course Description:

Modern radar signal processing is a broad and increasingly-sophisticated field, but many of the most important techniques are based on a few fundamentals concepts such as signal phase structure modeling, coherent integration, matched filtering, bandwidth-resolution relationships, maximum likelihood estimation, and modeling of interference statistics.  This tutorial will present several of the most basic and important radar signal processing methods, emphasizing their reliance on these fundamentals.  The tutorial will be organized as follows:

• Coherent Data Acquisition and Signal Phase Structure
  Phase/range relationship, the fast-time/slow-time data matrix, coherent receivers, spatial and temporal data snapshots.
• Integration
  Signal-to-noise ratio, coherent and noncoherent integration, phase compensation.
• Matched Filters
  Continuous and vector matched filters, phase compensation and coherent integration in matched filtering, filter mismatches, the ambiguity function.
• Bandwidth and Resolution
  Resolution concept and metrics, bandwidth metrics, reciprocal spreading and uncertainty in Fourier transforms.
• Pulse Compression Waveforms
  Simple pulse, linear FM, and simple phase-coded waveforms, matched filtering for pulse compression.
• Radar Imaging
  Imaging as 2D matched filtering and coherent integration; backprojection.
• Doppler Processing
  Matched filter for moving targets, MTI and pulse Doppler measurements, the discrete Fourier transform as a matched filter.
• Maximum Likelihood Estimation and the CRLB
  Concepts and properties of estimators, the maximum likelihood estimator, simple examples, the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB), relation to bandwidth and resolution.
• Estimating Interference Statistics
  CFAR concept, 1D and 2D applications, alternate estimators (order statistics, etc.)

It is assumed the student is familiar with basic concepts of signal processing such as linear filtering, Fourier transforms, and random variables.

 

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Instructor Biography:

Dr. Mark Richards is currently a Principal Research Engineer and Adjunct Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Georgia Institute of Technology, engaged in research market development and analysis; teaching in the fields of digital signal processing and radar signal processing; and research in radar signal processing and high performance embedded computing. Prior to joining ECE, he was a Principal Research Engineer and Chief of the Radar Systems Division (2000-2001) and Head of the Signal Processing Branch (1995-1999) in the Sensors and Electromagnetic Applications Laboratory of the Georgia Tech Research Institute. From 1993 to 1995, he served as a Program Manager for Advanced Signal Processing in the Electronic Systems Technology Office of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).
Dr. Richards is the author of the text Fundamentals of Radar Signal Processing (McGraw-Hill, 2005), as well as co-editor or contributor to four other books.  He received his Ph.D. and B.E.E. from Georgia Tech in 1982 and 1974, respectively, and his M.S.E.E. from Stanford University in 1976.