What's New Recent enhancements to Radar Signal Processing include increased depth in radar imaging, including spotlight SAR and turntable ISAR signal processing, as well as new material on both basic detection and detection in difficult non-Gaussian interference. The course focuses on signal processing areas of special interest to radar applications. A radar systems overview reviews the range equation, system structure, signal processor functions, and the radar environment. Next is an introduction and review of digital signal processing topics such as sampling and quantization, digital filtering, spectral estimation, and discrete Fourier transforms, with the emphasis on aspects unique to radar. Next, statistical, convolutional and frequency domain models of measured radar signals which guide the design of processing algorithms are described.
Special consideration is given to waveforms and techniques for wideband radar systems.
A review of modern spectral estimation leads into discussion of analog and digital beamforming, including adaptive nulling. Finally, clutter filtering techniques are presented, including MTI, pulse-Doppler, and an introduction to the more advanced adaptive techniques. Next, techniques for detecting the presence of targets are discussed. The course considers classical threshold detection and then shows how the detector is modified to work in the increasingly common non-Gaussian environments. Imaging radar is introduced through a heuristic overview of synthetic aperture radar concepts.