Real-Time Waveform-Diverse Pulse-Doppler Demo via Microwave Radar-in-a-Briefcase (MicRIB)

Recent advancements in software-defined technology provide the foundation for radar systems that have balanced size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C). Here, an Nvidia Jetson AGX Orin and an Ettus B200mini are connected to establish a real-time pulse-Doppler radar. Enclosing the system in a carry-on Pelican Case, the Microwave Radar-in-a-Briefcase (MicRIB) is a portable, low-cost test bench. The MicRIB is capable of arbitrary waveform transmission, data capture, and range-Doppler filtering in real-time while I/Q sampling at 61.4 MHz. Alternatively, the MicRIB may perform real-time spectrogram analysis at the same rate. Importantly, here “real-time” indicates that radar processing can be performed indefinitely without compounding latency. The MicRIB performance is experimentally evaluated in an open-air setting, performing moving target indication (MTI) processing (except for clutter cancellation). To demonstrate system flexibility, waveforms including linear FM, nonlinear FM, and random FM are assessed. Pulse compression is performed with either a matched filter or least squares mismatched filter, and a slow time Taylor window is applied prior to Doppler processing. With a stacked radar form factor of
$\mathbf{4.4} \times \mathbf{4.4} \times \mathbf{3.1}$
inches and weight of 1.6 kg (excluding battery), the radar performs with an average power draw of 40 Watts and presently costs under $3600, excluding peripherals.