Implementation of a high resolution stepped frequency radar on a USRP

We implement a software defined stepped frequency radar using a USRP. Stepped frequency radar suffers from large data collection time due to large number of pulses with different frequencies sent. Our approach uses a baseband stepped frequency signal, which is upconverted to RF, and, then, frequency hopping the RF frequency. In this way, a low cost hardware with moderate instantaneous RF bandwidth can be used. The total time for hopping all the frequencies, i.e. the data collection time, is also reduced. Resolution can be improved many-fold, depending on the USRP total frequency range.