6 GHz range finder using pulse compression

Railroad tracks often travel through rough terrain. Landslides and wash-outs pose huge safety and financial problems. Railroad companies are actively seeking ways to manage risk to train operation through technological applications. A new radar-based detection system has been designed and is built and currently under test. The radar system relies on the technique of interferometry to accurately measure the topography along a track and detect changes due to rock-fall or wash-out. A 6 Ghz radar for detecting hazards on railroads was built using grounded coplanar waveguide and surface mount technology. The authors discuss the construction and advantages of this waveguide technology. They discuss the theoretical performance and measured data for the radar system. Performance of the receiver includes gain, and noise figure. Performance of the transmitter includes chirp linearity, phase noise, and power level vs frequency. The antenna pattern and gain are reported. The radar system was developed with funding from the Canadian National Railway.