Target detection using a pulsed linear frequency modulated noise waveform

Abstract

This work investigates the plausibility of target detection using a pulsed linear frequency modulated (LFM) noise waveform conglomerate. The results were generated from simulation and demonstrated that the proposed transmit waveform structure possesses the ability to successfully mask any "chirp-like" characteristic making recognition and/or corruption by unintended 2nd-party passive receivers virtually impossible. Due to the fact that the pulsed LFM noise transmit signal was digitally stored as a reference, we were able to employ classical correlation mixing techniques that enabled the target detection approach to successfully resolve targets at range in the presence of interference. In addition, the process of using various binary random signal modulation schemes for the purpose of masking conventional pulsed radar waveform is also investigated. This work describes research involving target detection using a pulsed linear frequency modulated (LFM) waveform modulated by various discrete random signals. The results include a measure of correlation assessing the effectiveness of the various random signal modulators, Monte Carlo simulations identifying the loss introduced by the random signal modulators during the transmit process, matched filter receiver analysis analytically comparing the probability of detection performance when the random signal modulators are considered, and ambiguity functions to assess the uncertainty of the transmit waveform as a function of Doppler and time.