Radars - Advanced radar signal processing

In this article, the focus is on signal processing processes applied to radar, their principles, the resulting reception techniques and their performance criteria.

Following on from the notion of optimal filtering presented in the "Detection parameters" booklet, the main principles of linear filtering are described through the study of receivers:

• pulse compression ;

• coded ;

• correlation ;

• digital.

For each of them, we'll look at the principle behind them, their specific characteristics and the parameters they can be used to measure.

The generalization of these filtering processes then leads to a definition of optimal receivers, as an introduction to optimal reception processes in colored noise.

Then, a magnifying glass is put on the Doppler processing of targets for what concerns :

• pulse doppler radars;

• high angular resolution radars as an introduction to synthetic antenna radars, of which RIAS is an application.

Finally, the main principles of spatial elimination of interferers by acting on the signal perceived by the radar antenna are studied, including Side Lobe Opposition (SLO) and adaptive computational beamforming antennas.