Design and Implementation of an Advanced Radar Signal Processor with Waveform Generator and BIST Unit on a Single FPGA Chip

Abstract

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are best suited for signal processing applications that require real-time processing. Therefore, it is preferred over DSP processors in implementing radar receivers that processes incoming continuous stream of data. In the past, implementing complex arithmetic operations in floating point representation was a monopoly on DSP processors and the designers had to work around the sequential nature of the DSP processor to make it suitable for real-time applications by using buffered and multi-clocking designs. But nowadays, the great advances in FPGA design technology minimized this design effort since it is capable of performing these complex algorithms in real time. This paper represents the design and implementation of an advanced radar signal processor for binary phase-coded pulsed radar incorporating a time range side lobes suppression technique on a single FPGA chip. The proposed hardware design includes a waveform generator, an advanced signal processing unit, and a built-in self-test (BIST). Design aspects and hardware details for each part is introduced thoroughly.