PULSE COMPRESSION RADAR
Radar Glossary
Radar — Pulse Compression Radar
Information on Pulse Compression Radar
A pulse-compression radar makes use of specific signal processing techniques
to provide most of the advantages of extremely narrow pulses
widths whilst remaining within the peak power limitations of the
transmitter. The advantages of narrow pulses enjoyed by pulse compression
radar include superior range resolution and range accuracy. In
addition to these advantages, narrow pulse widths also assist radar
when operating in a cluttered environment. Radar also has an
ability to perform limited target classification if operating with sufficiently
narrow pulse widths, or sufficiently fine range resolution.
Without the use
of pulse compression, pulse widths cannot be reduced indefinitely. Extremely
narrow pulse widths result in wide receiver bandwidths and the
associated problems with noise. Large receiver bandwidths effectively de-sensitise the
radar receiver and either force the transmitter to transmit higher
levels of peak power to compensate, or accept the consequential
reduction in range. There are always limits on the amount
of peak power available from the transmitter, and invariably a
reduction in pulse width leads to a reduction in the
maximum range of the radar.
There are numerous waveforms suitable for
use with pulse compression including binary or phase coding and
linear frequency modulation.
Other topics in our resources on Radar related to Pulse Compression Radar include:
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