Radar Signal Processing using MATLAB

Ir. Dr. KOO Voon-Chet

Business Development Manager, iRadar Sdn Bhd
Overview
Solutions Solutions
Services Services
Support Support
Our Core Competencies
High Resolution Imaging and Non-Imaging Radars
RF Subsystems Design (Antennas, RF Transceivers, Radar Processors)
High-Speed PCB Design and Analysis High-Speed PCB Design and Analysis
Embedded Solutions (MCU, FPGA, HPC)
Overview of Radar Solutions by
Scatterometer Scatterometer System (SCAT) System (SCAT)
Non-imaging remote sensing radar
Backscattering coefficient measurements
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
High-resolution imaging radar
Terrain mapping and disaster monitoring
Landslide Monitoring Radar (LSR) Landslide Monitoring Radar (LSR) Landslide Monitoring Radar (LSR) Landslide Monitoring Radar (LSR)
High-resolution interferometry SAR
Instant risk assessment and landslide monitoring
Ultra Wideband Tracking Radar (UWB) Ultra Wideband Tracking Radar (UWB)
High-resolution tracking radar
Precision target detection and localization
Traffic Detection Radar (TDR) Traffic Detection Radar (TDR)
Short-range object detection radar
Traffic detection and monitoring
AGENDA
What is Radar
Principles of Radar Imaging
2D Radar Signal Processing
iSAR Pro v2013 An integrated Matlab-based SAR Utility Program iSAR Pro v2013 An integrated Matlab-based SAR Utility Program
Conclusion
What is Radar ? What is Radar ?
What is Radar ?
RADAR = Radio Detection And Ranging
Contactless sensor operating at radio waves
What kind of information can a radar obtain ?
Range
Speed
Location or coordinate
Parameters Camera Radar
Altitude
Targets signatures
Relative phase
Images
Advantages of using radar
Operable in all weather and lighting conditions
Ranging and positioning capabilities
Long distance and wide area coverage
Light-of-sight is not mandatory
2D and 3D imaging capabilities
Penetration capability (see-through wall, under-ground, etc.)
Target identification and classification
Complement optical/IR sensors
These are radars
NASA/JPL
AIRSAR/TO
Ship-based Radar:
The rotating antenna
radiates a vertical
fan-shaped beam
A model of the Type 345 Fire
Control Radar taken at CIDEX
2005 Defence Show
Sandia Lab MiniSAR
Ku Band, 0.1 m
resolution
FMCW
Ground-based Radar: EISCAT Kiruna Radar
AIRSAR/TO
PSAR
Airborne
Radar
Space-borne Imaging Radar: TerraSAR-
X (2007), TanDEM-X (2010)
Envisat (2002) ESA, Europe
FMCW
Scatterometer,
Multimedia
University, Malaysia
Examples of Radar Applications
Defense: to locate targets, guide missile, monitor air traffic,
Remote Sensing: to monitor natural resources, land-use mapping,
Security and Safety: to detect intruders, safeguard critical facilities,
Search and Rescue: to search for life, locate people in a crisis,
Process Control: to track assets, monitor critical operations,
Transportation: to detect vehicles speed, to avoid collision
Robotics: to avoid obstacles, guide an unmanned vehicle,
And more
Is it difficult to integrate a radar to my existing system ?
NO. Today, radar could be very small in size, simple to use, and cost effective, too!
Principles of Radar Imaging Principles of Radar Imaging
Radar Working Principles
Antennas
RF Transmitter
Processor
Data Acquisition &
Storage
Emitted Pulse
Backscattered
Returns
RF Receiver
Information
Radar Electronics Radar Processor
IF Section
ADC
Example of Non-Imaging Radar Measurements
Scatterometer Measurement Campaign to monitor various stages of paddy (rice) growth
Imaging Radar for Wider Area Coverage
Aircraft with
y
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)
High azimuth resolution is achieved by synthesizing a very long antenna
High range resolution is achieved by pulse compression technique or short pulse
x, across-track
direction
y, along-track
direction
Aircraft with
velocity, v
z-direction
Footprint
x, across-track
resolution
y, along-track
resolution
x
Functional Block Diagram of a SAR System
Motion Sensing Unit
GPS
Antenna
GPS Data
10MHz Ref
Rx Window
Control Signal
PRF
Motion sensing data
FPGA-based
Embedded SAR
Controller
RF Subsystem
Power Supply Module
(+15V / +28V)
Embedded SAR
Processor
Data Downlink
Data Recorder
Antenna
System
Tx/Rx
signal
80MHz LFM I
and Q signals
Down-converted
received I and Q
signals
From UAV
main power
supply
Down-link
Antenna
DLR-HRs E-SAR Sensor (2011)
X-band antenna
operation console
Digital rack
S/C-band rack
X-band rack
screen
keyboard
control
computer
ARSM iSAR02 SAR Sensor (2012)
SAR Processor
RF Subsystem
Digital Electronics
27 cm (W) 35 cm (L) 25 cm (H)
2D Radar Signal Processing 2D Radar Signal Processing
Overview of Synthetic Aperture Radar Signal Processing
Geometry of a Generic SAR

Azimuth
direction, y
Altitude
direction, z
Ideal trajectory, (0, y, h)
R
i
r
2 2
) (
i i i
y y r R + =
Nominal
Altitude, h
Ground range
direction, x
Target-i at arbitrary
coordinates (r
i
, y
i
)
r
i
Transmit Chirp Signal
amplitude, a()
duration, p
bandwidth, B p
B

=
Chirp rate
Chirp signal:
)
`

\
|
=
2
2
1
2 exp ) ( ) ( t j t a t p
pulse repetition interval, PRI
(
(

=
p
t j
t
t
rect t p e y t s
c

) ( ) , (
Transmitted signal:
Received Signals
After demodulation, the backscattered signal received from a point scatterer located
at (r
i
, y
i
) is given by
| |
(
(
(

=

i
i
c
R
j
c
R
t
rect
R
t p r y y w e r y y t g
i
c

2
)
2
( , ) , , (
2
2
| |
(
(
(

=
p
i
i i
c
i i
c
rect
c
R
t p r y y w e r y y t g

)
2
( , ) , , (
2
g() is the system impulse response
2D Image Formation

=
i i i i i i i
dy dr r y y r r g y r f y r s ) , , ( ) , ( ) , (
The raw signal s(r, y):
Target signature
System impulse response
The SAR imaging problem is to design an appropriate filter such that we can recover the
best estimate of f(r, y) based on the received signal s(r, y).
SAR
Processor
s(r,y)
Raw data
f(r,y)
image
Basic Ideas
Range
compression
Range
Migration
Azimuth
compression
2D Image Formation (Range Doppler Algorithm)
Raw Signal s(r,y)
Range FT
P
*
(k
r
)
Range FT
-1
Range Compression
SAR Image f(r,y)
exp[j(k
y
)r]
Range FT
Azimuth FT
Azimuth FT
-1
RM Correction
Range Migration Correction
(Interpolation)
Azimuth Compression
Azimuth Inverse Fourier
Transform
Azimuth Fourier
Transform
2D Image Formation (-k Algorithm)
Raw Signal
s(r,y)
2D FT
P
*
(k
r
)
Range
Compression
2D Fourier
Transform
SAR Image
f(r,y)
Nonlinear Mapping
2D FT
-1
Stolt Mapping
(Interpolation)
2D Inverse Fourier
Transform
Simulated Point Target
S
y
n
t
h
e
t
i
c

A
p
e
r
t
u
r
e

(
S
l
o
w
-
t
i
m
e
)

U
,

m
e
t
e
r
s
Simulated Stripmap SAR Signal
2000
4000
6000
Fast-time t, sec
S
y
n
t
h
e
t
i
c

A
p
e
r
t
u
r
e

(
S
l
o
w
-
t
i
m
e
)

U
,

m
e
t
e
r
s
8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5
x 10
-5
-6000
-4000
-2000
0
Range Compression
S
y
n
t
h
e
t
i
c

A
p
e
r
t
u
r
e

(
S
l
o
w
-
t
i
m
e
)

U
,

m
e
t
e
r
s
Stripmap SAR Signal after Fast-time Matched Filtering
2000
4000
6000
Fast-time t, sec
S
y
n
t
h
e
t
i
c

A
p
e
r
t
u
r
e

(
S
l
o
w
-
t
i
m
e
)

U
,

m
e
t
e
r
s
8 8.5 9 9.5 10 10.5
x 10
-5
-6000
-4000
-2000
0
Azimuth Compression
C
r
o
s
s
-
r
a
n
g
e

Y
,

m
e
t
e
r
s
Wavefront Stripmap SAR Reconstruction
50
100
Range X, meters
C
r
o
s
s
-
r
a
n
g
e

Y
,

m
e
t
e
r
s
1.19 1.195 1.2 1.205
x 10
4
-100
-50
0
Challenges in SAR Signal Processing
Huge Data Volume
Real-Time Processing
Motion Errors and Compensation
iSAR Pro v2013 iSAR Pro v2013
An Integrated Matlab-based SAR Utility Program
Introduction
Design and development of SAR system
has been an expensive and time-
consuming task
Re-designing in hardware and software
are costly but sometime it is unavoidable are costly but sometime it is unavoidable
With proper planning and simulation, it
could help to shorten the design cycle
and hence, reducing development cost
and time
A Matlab-based SAR utility program,
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 is developed for this
purpose
Earlier Version: iSim iSim
iSim iSim is a Matlab-based SAR simulation
program first introduced in 2008 [1].
It is a modular-based simulator with
various independent modules that share
a pool of data files. a pool of data files.
[1] Koo, V.C., C.S.Lim and Y.K.Chan (2007), iSIM - An Integrated Sar Product Simulator For System Designers And
Researchers Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications (JEWMA), Vol.21, No.3, pp.313-328, ISSN 0920-5071.
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 is an enhanced version
of iSIM iSIM program with added SAR utility
tools:
SAR Designer
SAR Simulator SAR Simulator
SAR Reader
SAR Processor
SAR Viewer
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Designer Module
SAR Designer Module
SAR system-level design tool
Categories of SAR design parameters:
Geometry
Sensor Configurations Sensor Configurations
Signal Processing Parameters
Doppler Parameters
Image Quality
Each category has two type of parameters
User-defined parameters
Computed parameters
Save and load functions are included to ease the system design process
Examples of System Level Requirements
Wavelength, (1 cm 1m)
Polarization (usually linear, VV, HH, VH, HV)
Pulse length (~10 s 50 s)
Pulse bandwidth (~10 MHz 200 MHz)
Pulse Repetition Frequency, PRF (~1000 Hz 2000 Hz)
System Parameters Specifications
Mode of Operation Stripmap
Operating Frequency 5.3 GHz (C-band)
Bandwidth 80 MHz
Polarization Single, VV
Antenna Gain > 25 dBi
Spatial Resolution 5 m x 5 m
RCS Dynamic Range 30 dB (0 dB to -30 dB)
SNR > 10 dB
Pulse Repetition Frequency, PRF (~1000 Hz 2000 Hz)
Transmit Power (~100 W to several kW)
Antenna Size (flat array, ~1 m 10 m+)
Operating range (~ several km hundreds km)
SNR > 10 dB
Incident Angle 30 deg
Platform Height 1000 m
Swath Width 1000 m
Nominal Platform Speed 30 m/s
Data Take Duration 1 hour (10 min per scene)
SAR Processing Off-line
Overall Sensor Weight < 25 kg
Overall Sensor Dimension < 26" (L) x 20" (H) x 17 " (W)
Operating Platform UAV, Aludra MK2 (UST)
Built-in Power Supply 22 V - 32 V
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Designer Module
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Simulator Module
SAR Simulator Module
Point target simulation tool
User-friendly input method
Mouse input
Mouse click to add a point target on the map Mouse click to add a point target on the map
It shares the same parameters from SAR Designer module
SAR Simulator >> Reset
SAR Simulator >> Adding Point Target
SAR Simulator >> Adding Point Targets
SAR Simulator >> Generating Raw Data
SAR Simulator >> Slant Range Matched Filtering
SAR Simulator >> 2D Frequency Spectrum
SAR Simulator >> SAR Image Reconstruction
SAR Simulator >> SAR Image Reconstruction with RMC
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Reader Module
SAR Reader Module
Data extraction from SAR raw data file
Extracted SAR data is saved in MAT-format
Extra features
Real and imaginary signal plots Real and imaginary signal plots
Range compressed signal analysis
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Reader Module
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Processor Module
SAR Processor Module
Level-0 SAR raw data processing module
SAR data imported in MAT-format
User-defined processing algorithm
Custom processing algorithm can be imported (as M-files) Custom processing algorithm can be imported (as M-files)
Intermediate output is shown
Final output image is save in MAT and TIFF-format
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Processor
51
SAR Processor-0 >> Raw data processing
52
SAR Processor-0 > Image enhancement
53
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Viewer Module
SAR Viewer Module
View processed SAR image
Plotting options
Default plot
Gray plot Gray plot
Customized color intensity
Data rescaling by adjusting minimum and maximum values
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Viewer
55
iSAR iSAR Pro v2013 Pro v2013 >> SAR Viewer
56
Conclusion Conclusion
Result Verifications and Summary
SAR Experiment (Stop-n-Go)
Truck-mounted SAR Imaging
UAV-based ARSM-MMU SAR Experiments
UAV-based ARSM-MMU SAR Experiments
UAV-based ARSM-MMU VV-POL SAR Images
Taken Dec 2010, at Mersing, Johor, Malaysia (R119, C-band 3 x 3 m)
Concluding Remarks
Terrain Mapping and Classification
Vegetation and Environmental Monitoring
Landslide Monitoring and Early Warning System
Deforestation Monitoring
SAR imaging has many potential applications, such as:
Deforestation Monitoring
Coastal Line Monitoring
and more
Some of these, particularly civilian, have not yet been adequately explored because lower
cost electronics are just beginning to make SAR economical for smaller scale uses
With the advancement in RF and semiconductor technologies, radar will become a standard
app for electronic gadgets in very near future.
Concluding Remarks
Radar Signal Processing is a challenging subject
The use of powerful Matlab tools greatly reduces the complexity of SAR processing
An integrated Matlab-based SAR utility program has been developed to assist the SAR
designer
Matlab Experiences
designer
Future direction: Real-time implementation of Matlab codes in Embedded Processor and
FPGA
THANK YOU
Dynamic Solutions. Precise Results.