Radar and data communication fusion with UWB-OFDM software-defined system

This paper describes the architecture, testing methodology and experimental results of the software-defined ultra-wideband system built at Miami University. To achieve broadband data communication capability, spectrum-efficient OFDM method of modulation was chosen. The radar functionality using the same OFDM-coded pulses was implemented as well, and tested in short-range experiments. The system operates in X-band with a total transmit bandwidth of 1 GHz. Range resolution of 0.30 meters and data communication capability at approximately 57 Mb/s were established and the system was shown to be able to operate in either mode without any hardware adjustments. This concept may prove extremely useful in high-resolution radar sensor network scenarios.