Design and Implementation of SDR Platform for Radar Applications

Radar systems are an interesting application of SDR due to SDR’s low cost and high configurability compared to traditional radar systems. During this research, a complete SDR system was designed and implemented targeting radar applications. The component used in this design were chosen carefully to afford a wide operating range, high speed, low power dissipation, small size, low cost, configurability, low noise, and good performance. The implemented SDR can transmit and receive signals up to 6.8 GHz with 100 MHz instantaneous bandwidth. The system’s small size and good performance suit portable UAVs, SAR, and imaging radars. This research used the implemented SDR as an FMCW radar system capable of detecting motion behind numerous barriers by employing an FPGA as a real-time signal processor. The proposed UWB FMCW radar can penetrate walls and provide exact range resolution to overcome any masking concerns that may develop during detection. With a range of 25m, a resolution of 20cm, and a transmitter power of 16 mW, the proposed radar could effectively give the range profile of a moving person around a room and behind one or two brick walls.