Chapter 5

Radar Waveforms Analysis

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Ch 5. Radar Waveforms Analysis

- Choosing a waveform type and a signal processing technique in a radar system
depends on the radars specific mission and role

- Radar systems can use

Continuous Waveforms(CW)
Pulse waveforms with modulation

Pulse waveforms without modulation

- Range and Doppler resolutions are directly related to the specific waveform

frequency characteristics. power spectrum density of waveform is very

critical

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5.1. LP, BP Signals and Quadrature Components

Low Pass, Band Pass Signals and Quadrature Components
- Low Pass(LP) signals : contained significant frequency composition at a low
frequency band that includes DC
- Band Pass(BP) signals : have significant frequency away from the origin

Real BP Signal
- Real BP signal x(t ) represented by
x(t ) r (t ) cos(2f 0t x (t ))

(5.1)

where r (t ) : amplitude modulation or envelope

x (t ) : phase modulation
f 0 : carrier frequency

* Both r (t ) and x (t ) have frequency components significantly smaller than f 0 .

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Real BP Signal
- Frequency modulation is

1 d
f m (t )
x (t )
2 dt

(5.2)

- Instantaneous frequency is

f i (t )

1 d
2f 0t x (t ) f 0 f m (t )
2 dt

(5.3)

- Signal bandwidth B << f 0 signal x(t ) is a narrow band pass signal

- Band pass signal can be represented by two low pass signals

x(t ) xI (t ) cos 2f 0t xQ (t ) sin 2f 0t

(5.4)

where xI (t ) , xQ (t ) : real LP signals quadrature components

xI (t ) r (t ) cos x (t ) , xQ (t ) r (t ) sin x (t )
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Real BP Signal

< Extraction of quadrature componentcs>

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5.2 CW and Pulsed Waveforms

CW and Pulsed Waveforms
- Energy signal (finite energy): haracterized by its Energy Spectrum Density
(ESD) function (Joules/Hz)
- Power signal (finite power): characterized by its Power Spectrum Density
(PSD) function (Watts/Hz)
- Signal bandwidth: range of freq over which the signal has a nonzero spectrum.
- Signal defined using its duration (time domain) and bandwidth (freq. domain)
- Finite bandwidth band-limited
- Signals that have
finite duration (time-limited) have infinite bandwidth

finite bandwidth (band-limited) have infinite duration

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CW and Pulsed Waveforms

Signal Autocorrelation Function
- A time domain signal

f (t )

has

Fourier Transform (FT) :

F ( )

f (t )e jt dt

(5.6)

Inverse FT (IFT) :

1
f (t )
2

jt
F
(

)
e
d

- The signal autocorrelation function

R f ( )

(5.7)

R f ( )

is

f * (t ) f (t ) dt

(5.8)

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CW and Pulsed Waveforms

- Signal amplitude spectrum is

F ( )

if f (t ) were an energy signal, then its ESD is F ( ) .

if f (t ) were a power signal, then its PSD is S f ( ) which is the FT of the
autocorrelation function

S f ( )

j
R
d
f ( )e

(5.9)

CW Waveform
f1 (t ) A cos 0t

(5.10)

F1 () A ( 0 ) ( 0 )

(5.11)

- CW waveform given by
- The FT of

f1 (t ) is

where 0 2f 0
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CW Waveform
- Signal f1 (t ) has infinitesimal bandwidth, located at f 0 .

<Amplitude spectrum for a continuous sine wave>

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Time domain signal

Time Domain Signal
- Time domain signal f 2 (t ) given by

t A
f 2 (t ) A Rect
0

2
2
otherwise

F2 ( ) A Sinc

where

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Sinc ( x)

sin(x)
x

(5.12)

(5.13)

(5.14)

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Time domain signal

- Bandwidth is infinite. Since infinite
bandwidth
cannot be physically implemented.

- Signal bandwidth is approximated by 2 /

radians per second or 1 / Hertz.
accounts for most of the signal energy

<Amplitude spectrum for a single pulse, or

a train of non-coherent pulses>
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Coherent gated CW waveform

Coherent gated CW waveform Signal

<Amplitude spectrum for a coherent pulse train of infinite length>

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Coherent gated CW waveform

- Coherent gated CW waveform f 3 (t ) given by

f 3 (t )

(t nT )

(5.15)

f 3 (t ) is periodic, where T is the period( f r 1 / T is the PRF)

Using the complex exponential Fourier series

f 3 (t )

F e

j 2nt
T

(5.16)

Fn

A
n
Sinc

T
T

(5.17)

- The FT of f 3 (t ) is

F3 ( ) 2
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F ( 2nf )

(5.18)
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Amplitude spectrum
Amplitude spectrum for a coherent pulse train of finite length

<Amplitude spectrum for a coherent pulse train of finite length>

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Amplitude spectrum for a coherent pulse train of finite length

4) Function f 4 (t ) as
N

f 4 (t ) f 2 (t nT )

(5.19)

n 0

Note that f 4 (t ) is a limited f 3 (t ) . The FT of f 4 (t ) is

NT
F4 ( ) AN Sinc
Sinc (nf r ) ( 2nf r )
2 n

(5.20)

where the operator indicates convolution.

- The envelope is still a sinx/x which corresponds to the pulse width. But
the spectral lines are replaced by sinx/x spectra that correspond to the
duration NT
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5.3 LFM Waveform

Linear Frequency Modulation Waveforms
- Frequency or phase modulated waveforms can be used to achieve much wider
operating bandwidths. Linear Freq. Modulation(LFM) is commonly used

- LFM : freq. is swept linearly across the pulse width, either upward(up-chirp)
or downward(down-chirp).

- The matched filter bandwidth is proportional to the sweep bandwidth, and is

independent of the pulse width.
- The LFM up-chirp instantaneous phase can be expressed by
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LFM Waveform
2

(t ) 2 f 0t t
t
2
2
2

where f 0 : radar center frequency

(5.21)

(2B) / : LFM coefficien t

- the instantaneous frequency is

f (t )

1 d
(t ) f 0 t
2 dt

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t
2
2

(5.22)

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LFM Waveform

(a)

(b)

<Typical LFM waveform (a)up-chirp, (b)down-chirp>

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LFM Waveform
- The down-chirp instantaneous phase and frequency are given by

(t ) 2 f 0t
f (t )

t2
2

t
2
2

1 d
(t ) f 0 t
2 dt

t
2
2

(5.23)
(5.24)

- A typical LFM waveform can be expressed in complex notation by

t j 2 f 0t 2 t
s1 (t ) Rect e
(5.25)

where Rect (t / ) denotes a rectangula r pulse of width

s1 (t ) e j 2f0t s(t )
2
t
where s(t ) Rect e j t

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(5.26)
(complex envelope function of s1 (t ))
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LFM Waveform
- The spectrum of the signal s1 (t ) is determined from its complex
envelope s(t ) . taking the FT of s(t ) yields

2
j 2t 2 j t
t j t 2 j t
e dt
S ( ) Rect e
e dt exp

(5.28)

Let 2 2B / , and perform the change of variable

x

j
S( )
e

j
S ( )
e

/ 2

;dx

x2

dt

(5.29)

jx / 2
e dx

(5.30)

x1
x2 jx 2 / 2

jx 2 / 2
dx e
dx
e
0

(5.31)

x1
2

/ 2

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LFM Waveform
where

x1

B
f

1

2
2 B/2

(5.32)

x2

B
f

1

2
2 B/2

(5.33)

The Fresnel integrals, denoted by C ( x) and S ( x), are defined by

2
d
C ( x) cos
0
2

x
2
d
S ( x) sin
0
2

(5.34)
(5.35)

- Fresnel integrals are approximated by

1 1

sin x 2
2 x 2
1 1

S ( x) cos x 2
2 x
2

C ( x)

; x 1

(5.36)

; x 1

(5.37)

Note that , C( x) C( x) and S ( x) S ( x)

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LFM Waveform

<fresnel integrals>
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C(x) and S(x) for 0 x 10

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Fresnel Spectrum
2
d
C ( x) cos
0
2

2
d
S ( x) sin
0
2
x

(5.34)

(5.35)

j
S ( )
e

S ( )

/ 2

x1
x2 jx 2 / 2

jx 2 / 2
dx e
dx
e
0

1 j 2 /( 4B ) C ( x2 ) C ( x1 ) jS ( x2 ) S ( x1 )
e

B
2

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(5.31)

(5.38)

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Fresnel Spectrum

<Typical spectrum for an LFM waveform>

Typical plot for the amplitude spectrum of an LFM waveform. The squarelike spectrum is widely known as the Fresnel spectrum
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