FMCW Radar system for UAV tracking and identification by MDS recognition

This paper presents a frequency modulation continuous wave (FMCW) C-band radar system with high sensitivity and 2D detection capacity to detect low-radar cross section targets and to measure their range, velocity and micro-Doppler signature. A low jitter high signal-to-noise and distortion ratio (SINAD) S band signal is directly generated by an SDR system based on Xilinx FPGA system, which greatly increases the micro-Doppler and angle estimation performance of the system. Up conversion to C-Band by x2 frequency multiplication is performed. Proper amplification and filtering of emitted and detected signals are implemented to achieve 80dB dynamic range in the final system. The transmitter and the receiver are mounted on a designed fixture to reduce the ground reflections and their crosstalk. The transmitter antenna is a single 90° width whereas multi-long baseline interferometer (MLBI) concept is implemented in the receiver antenna for a low cost, low dimension and high angle resolution in the 2D position of the targets. Measurements in terms of the range, the velocity and the micro Doppler signature of a small drone have been carried out to evaluate the proposed radar system. The results show that we can clearly detect, identify and track the small drone within a 500 m range, which demonstrates the high performance of the radar and its potential use for UAV tracking and identification.