Hardware-accelerated embedded SAR processor for realtime FMCW radar applications

A realtime Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging system for Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave (FMCW) radars using hardware acceleration for highly efficient signal processing is presented. The backprojection algorithm is used for this purpose as it combines efficiency by using the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) for range compression and the ability to process data after each measurement. A second radar sensor provides the possibility of a free motion during the measurement process. The signal processing is implemented on a Xilinx Zynq-7000 System on a Chip (SoC). It has a processor system as well as a programmable logic that can be used for hardware acceleration of suitable functions like the FFT and the backprojection algorithm. With this system design, up to 107 measurements per second can be processed.