A survey of graphics processing unit (GPU) utilization for radar signal and data processing system

Abstract

Graphics Processing Units (GPU) in the last decade has been progressing very rapidly. The hardware originally used for image processing displayed on the screen has shifted into a device for computing in parallel (general purpose GPU). GPU can also be used to perform radar data processing either in the stage of signal processing or in the data processing stage. This is done because the radar data is processed in large size and the computation process allows to be parallelized. Previously, radar data processing was performed using a specialized digital signal processor (DSP) device and/or field-programmable gate array (FPGA). But the cost required for both types of devices is more expensive than the GPU. In addition, both have low scalability. GPU use is a compromise solution compared to using DSP or FPGA because GPU can cover the above weaknesses although on the other hand GPU power consumption is not as good as DSP and FPGA. This paper examines the extent to which the GPU has been used in radar signal processing and radar data processing. Several studies have used GPU for radar signal and data processing algorithm implementations on the GPU compared to using the usual Central Processing Unit (CPU). The comparison results show the GPU performance is much better than the CPU. Speedup relative to the CPU has reached the double-digit level.