Principles of high-resolution radar based on nonsinusoidal waves. III. Radar-target reflectivity model

Abstract

For pt.II see ibid., vol.31, no.4, p.369-75 (1989). A target-reflectivity model is developed for carrier-free nonsinusoidal waves with the time variation of a Gaussian pulse or a sequence of positive and negative Gaussian pulses representing a binary code, as was introduced in pt.I (see ibid., vol.31, no.4, p.359-68 (1989)). It is shown that the impulse response of a complex target that is composed of a finite number of scattering centers can be expressed as a sequence of Gaussian pulses. The characteristics of the Gaussian pulses, e.g. peak amplitude and nominal duration, are functions of the physical properties of the scattering centers, which are unique for each target. Hence, the impulse response waveform of a target can be regarded as a one-dimensional image in time (or range), which is valuable information for target classification and recognition. A signal processing technique is developed for obtaining an approximation of a target impulse response waveform from the backscattered and received signals. The signal processor is specifically developed for radar signals with the structure of complementary code pairs whose autocorrelation function is a single narrow pulse with no time sidelobes. >