Channel isolation and range sidelobe suppression for instantaneous full-polarization radar

Abstract

Polarization is quite useful for target detection and identification since it is an intrinsic property of targets. The real polarization scattering matrix (PSM) namely Sinclair scattering matrix must be acquired by instantaneous full polarization measurements. For the requirement of full polarization measurement to radar targets instantaneously, a solution to the two key issues on channel isolation and sidelobe suppression is proposed here from the perspective of waveform design and echo processing. The required waveform characteristics for instantaneous full polarization radar and the demands of sidelobe suppression performance were reviewed. Channel isolation is guaranteed by orthogonal Waveform Design, and the performance of auto-correlation and Doppler tolerance is obtained at the same time. A novel signal transmission guideline is designed based on comprehensive utilization of positive and negative chirp rate linear frequency-modulation (LFM) waveform and orthogonal phase-coded waveform hopping pulse to pulse randomly. Effective sidelobe reduction is achieved by inter-pulse information processing. What's more, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the performance of low probability of intercept radar are improved simultaneously.