High-resolution parameter estimation for chirp-sequence radar considering hardware impairments

Parametric signal processing is considered for radar measurements to overcome the Rayleigh resolution limit, which is denoted as high resolution. A model describing the measurement data in terms of the radar system and the target parameters is required. A chirp-sequence radar with a stretch processing receiver architecture is considered and an according system model is derived. Based on the maximum-likelihood method and the data model, a parameter estimator is derived to infer the target parameters range and radar cross section from the measurements. The derived radar system model is verified by application of the estimator to real measurement data.