Non coherent integration in a medium PRF radar

In a medium PRF radar, detection is ambiguous in both range and radial speed. The paper discusses some methods for the detection and resolution of range and radial speed in a radar with a burst oriented waveform, featuring PRF and RF changes from burst to burst. Two methods of detection are compared: (1) initial detection on a burst by burst basis and subsequent combination of the detections obtained from each burst; and (2) first unfolding the Doppler-processed video in both range and radial speed, summation of the corresponding received normalised powers and finally detection of the summed results. The results of both methods are compared, showing that the processing gain of the second method is significantly above the first method. An important aspect of these methods of detection is the power to resolve ambiguities. Without particular measures, the number of so-called ghost detections, i.e. detections at incorrectly resolved position and speed, may be significant. Two procedures to reduce the ghost rate are illustrated for a three burst scenario. The results indicate that the ghost rate may be reduced to low levels at the expense of a part of the processing gain.