GigaRad – a multi-purpose high-resolution ground-based radar - system concept, error correction strategies and performance verification

Abstract

Recently DLR has developed and constructed a new experimental radar instrument [5] for various applications such as radar signature collection, synthetic aperture radar/ inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging, motion detection, tracking, etc., where high performance and high flexibility have been the key drivers for system design. Consequently the multi-purpose and multi-channel radar called GigaRad is operated in X and Ku band and allows an overall bandwidth of up to 6 GHz, resulting in a theoretical range resolution of up to 2.5 cm. Hence, primary obligation is a detailed analysis of various possible error sources, being of no or less relevance for low-resolution systems. A high degree of digital technology enables advanced signal processing and error correction to be applied. The paper outlines main technical features of the radar system, the basic error correction and absolute calibration strategy, frequency limitations, and illustrates some imaging results.