The main objective of this chapter is to describe how an airborne pulse-Doppler radar isolates targets of interest from clutter and measures target range and velocity. Related topics such as pulse compression, automatic detection, target tracking, and target and clutter statistics are described. The intent is to present basic principles and concepts. Although some of the approximations used sacrifice generality and rigor for the sake of clarity, they are otherwise fairly accurate for most conditions of interest.

Chapter Contents:

• 5.1 Introduction
• 5.2 Geometry
• 5.3 The Doppler Shift and Motivation for Doppler Processing
• 5.4 Range and Doppler Distribution of Clutter
• 5.5 Contours of Constant Doppler and Range
• 5.6 Example Scenario
• 5.7 Pulse-Doppler Conceptual Approach
• 5.8 Ambiguities, Folded Clutter, and Blind Zones
• 5.9 Overview of PRF Regimes
• 5.10 High PRF Mode
• 5.11 Medium PRF Mode
• 5.12 Low PRF Mode
• 5.13 Summary
• 5.14 References

Inspec keywords: radar signal processing; radar tracking; radar detection; pulse compression; radar clutter; Doppler radar; airborne radar; target tracking

Other keywords: target range; target tracking; target velocity; radar clutter; airborne pulse-Doppler radar; automatic detection; clutter statistics; pulse compression

Subjects: Radar theory; Signal detection; Radar equipment, systems and applications