Classical radar waveform design

The waveform determines the delay-Doppler response of a radar system. From that response, one can derive the radar’s range and velocity resolution and their ambiguities. This chapter explains the concept and motivation for pulse compression. It then describes narrow-band signals and their major signal processing and analysis tools - the matched filter and the ambiguity function. These tools are then used to study classical pulse signals such as unmodulated rectangular pulse, linear-FM pulse and binary and polyphase-coded pulses. The key for Doppler resolution - the coherent pulse train - is then analysed. Additional topics are reduction of sidelobes (delay and spectrum); inter-pulse diversity, multicarrier waveforms; and periodic continuous waveforms (CW).