Algorithms To Antenna - Radar Waveform Analysis Using The Ambiguity Function

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Algorithms to Antenna: Radar Waveform Analysis

Using the Ambiguity Function
Rick Gentile, Honglei Chen | Aug 21, 2019
In a recent blog, we introduced ways to generate waveforms for wireless and radar systems. For radar
waveform analysis, we discussed tools that can be used to automatically generate waveform
modulation data. We want to expand on this topic and describe how the ambiguity function is used to
analyze radar waveforms. To do this, we compare the range and Doppler capability of several basic
waveforms.
In a radar system, the choice of a radar waveform plays an important role in enabling the system to
distinguish between two closely spaced objects, in either range or velocity. To do this, you can
examine a waveform and understand resolution and ambiguity in both domains. Range is measured
using the delay, and the velocity is measured using the Doppler shift.
To improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), radar systems often incorporate a matched filter in the
receiver chain. The ambiguity function of a waveform represents the output of the matched filter
when the specified waveform is used as the filter input. This representation makes the ambiguity
function popular for designing and analyzing waveforms. You can gain insight into the resolution of
delay and Doppler for a given waveform. Based on this analysis, you’re able to determine whether a
waveform is suitable for an application.
Let’s look at the ambiguity function to explore the range-Doppler relationship for several popular
waveforms. To establish a comparison baseline, we use a radar system that requires a maximum
unambiguous range of 15 km and a range resolution of 1.5 km.
One of the simplest waveforms for a radar system is probably a rectangular waveform in which the
pulse width is the reciprocal of the bandwidth. Figure 1 shows the ambiguity function of one pulse of
the waveform.
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1. This is the ambiguity function of rectangular waveform.
Take note that the nonzero response occupies only about 10% of all delays and is focused to a narrow
strip around delay 0. This occurs because the waveform has a duty cycle of 10%.
When you assess a waveform’s resolution, the zero-delay cut and the zero Doppler cut of the
waveform ambiguity function are of interest. The zero Doppler cut of the ambiguity function returns
the autocorrelation function of the waveform (Fig. 2).
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2. Depicted is the autocorrelation function of rectangular waveform.
The zero Doppler cut of the ambiguity function depicts the matched filter response of a target when
the target is stationary. The first null response appears at 10 µs, which means that this waveform
could resolve two targets at least 10 µs, or 1.5 km, apart. This is good because the response matches
the requirement specified earlier.
Figure 3 shows the zero-delay response for this same waveform. Note the returned zero-delay
response is fairly broad. The first null appears at the edge, which corresponds to a Doppler shift of
100 kHz. This means that if the two targets are at the same range, they need to have a difference of
100 kHz in the Doppler domain to be separated. Assuming a radar operating frequency of 1 GHz, this
separation corresponds to a speed difference of 30 km/s. With a number so large, you cannot
separate two targets in the Doppler domain using this system.
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3. In a zero-delay response for a rectangular waveform, the first null appears at the edge.
It’s worth noting that for a rectangular waveform, the range resolution is determined by the pulse
width. To achieve good range resolution, the waveform needs to have a very small pulse width. At the
same time, the system also needs to be able to send out enough energy to the target so that the
returned echo can be reliably detected. A narrow pulse width requires very high peak power at the
transmitter. In practice, producing this power tends to be very costly.
The root issue here is that both the delay and the Doppler resolution depend on the pulse width in
opposite ways. One approach to solve this issue is to come up with a waveform that decouples this
dependency. An option is to use a linear frequency-modulation (FM) waveform in which the range
resolution of a linear FM waveform does not depend on the pulse width. Instead, the range resolution
is determined by the sweep bandwidth.
Because the range resolution is determined by the sweep bandwidth, the waveform can afford a
longer pulse width, which helps with the power requirement. As a result, the Doppler resolution
improves. This improvement occurs even though the Doppler resolution of a linear FM waveform is
still given by the reciprocal of the pulse width.
For this example, the pulse width is five times longer than that of the rectangular waveform used
previously. The bandwidth of the linear FM waveform is the same as that of the rectangular
waveform.
Figure 4 shows the zero Doppler cut of the linear FM waveform. You can see that even though the
response now has sidelobes, the first null still appears at 10 µs, so the range resolution is preserved.
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4. This is a zero Doppler cut for a linear FM waveform.
In Figure 5, the zero-delay cut of the linear FM waveform is shown. Here, the first null in the Doppler
domain is now at around 20 kHz, which is one-fifth of the original rectangular waveform.
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5. In a zero-delay cut for the linear FM waveform, the first null in the Doppler domain occurs at
around 20 kHz.
The 20-kHz Doppler separation translates to a speed difference of 6 km/s. This resolution is five
times better than that of the rectangular waveform. Unfortunately, this resolution is still inadequate
to meet our original requirement.
The ambiguity function for the linear FM waveform is shown in Figure 6. Compared with the
ambiguity function of the rectangular waveform, the ambiguity function of the linear FM waveform is
slightly tilted. The tilt provides the improved resolution in the zero-delay cut.
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6. This is the ambiguity function of a linear FM waveform.
The ambiguity function of both rectangular waveform and linear FM waveform have the shape of a
long, narrow edge. This kind of ambiguity function is often referred to as a “knife edge” ambiguity
function.
Before we look at ways to improve the Doppler resolution, it’s worth looking at an important figure of
merit for waveform analysis. The product of the pulse width and the bandwidth of a waveform is
referred to as the waveform’s time-bandwidth product. For a rectangular waveform, the time-
bandwidth product is always 1. For a linear FM waveform, the time-bandwidth product can be larger
than 1. The linear FM waveform just used has a time-bandwidth product of 5.
We can now turn our attention to improving the resolution by using a coherent pulse train. As you
will see, the more pulses in the pulse train, the finer the Doppler resolution. To illustrate the idea, we
can change the waveform to a five-pulse burst.
Figure 7 shows the zero Doppler cut of the ambiguity function. For the zero Doppler cut, the first null
is still around 10 µs, so the range resolution is the same as we discussed earlier. The sidelobes are the
tradeoff for using a pulse train. The distance between the mainlobe and the first sidelobe is the length
of one entire pulse—that is, the reciprocal of the pulse-repetition frequency (PRF). This value
corresponds to the maximum unambiguous range.
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7. The ambiguity function for a linear FM pulse train is shown.
The zero-delay cut depicted in Figure 8 also has sidelobes because of the pulse train. The distance
between the mainlobe and the first sidelobe is based on the PRF. This value represents the maximum
unambiguous Doppler that’s detectable with the radar system. The corresponding maximum
unambiguous speed is 3,000.
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8. One can see the sidelobes in the zero-delay cut for pulse train.
The mainlobe is now much sharper, and the first null is at about 2 kHz. The resolution is now
determined by the length of our entire pulse train, not the pulse width of a single pulse. The
corresponding speed resolution is now 600, which is significantly better. More importantly, to get
even finer speed resolution, you can simply increase the number of pulses included in the pulse train.
The number of pulses in a burst depends on whether the system can preserve the coherence for the
entire duration.
You can see in the zero-delay cut that the distance between peaks is no longer constant, especially for
the sidelobes that are further away from the main lobe. This happens because the linear FM
waveform’s ambiguity function is tilted. The separation of sidelobes in the zero-delay cut can be
misleading. The ambiguity caused by the pulse train is probably best viewed in the contoured form
(Fig. 9). Notice how those sidelobes are evenly spaced along the edge of the ambiguity function. This
is commonly referred to as a “bed of nails” ambiguity function.
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9. Evidenced by the sidelobes that are evenly spaced along the edge, this is known as the “bed of
nails” ambiguity function.
While the linear FM waveform is very widely used in radar systems, it can present some challenges to
the hardware. Lower-end hardware may have trouble with a sweep of the entire frequency range in
one pulse. Using this waveform also makes it harder to build the receiver because it must
accommodate the entire bandwidth.
To avoid these issues, a stepped FM waveform is often used instead. A stepped FM waveform consists
of multiple contiguous wave pulses. Each pulse has a different frequency, and together, all pulses
occupy the entire bandwidth. Similarly, the receiver only needs to accommodate the bandwidth that’s
the reciprocal of the pulse width of a single pulse.
Figure 10 shows the zero Doppler cut, zero-delay cut, and contour plot of the ambiguity function.
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10. These are the ambiguity plots for stepped FM waveform.
From these images, you can observe the following:
The first null in delay is still at 10 µs, so the range resolution is preserved. Notice that because
each pulse is different, the sidelobes in the range domain disappear.
The first null in Doppler is still at 2 kHz, so it has the same Doppler resolution as the 5-pulse
linear FM pulse train. The sidelobes in the Doppler domain are still present as in the linear FM
pulse train case.
The contour plot of the stepped FM waveform is also a “bed of nails” type. Although the
unambiguous range is greatly extended, the unambiguous Doppler is still confined by the
waveform’s PRF.
One disadvantage of a stepped FM waveform is that the processing becomes more complicated.
Phase-coded waveforms represent another important group of waveforms, the most popular of which
are Barker codes, Frank codes, and Zadoff-Chu codes. In a phase-coded waveform, a pulse is divided
into multiple subpulses, often referred to as chips, and each chip is modulated with a given phase. All
phase-coded waveforms have good autocorrelation properties, making them good candidates for
pulse compression. If a phase-coded waveform is adopted, it could lower the probability of
interception as the energy is spread into chips. At the receiver, a properly configured matched filter
could suppress the noise and achieve good range resolution.
Barker code is probably the most well-known phase-coded waveform. The code consists of seven
chips. Its zero Doppler cut of the ambiguity function is shown in Figure 11.
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11. Here’s a zero Doppler cut of the Barker-code waveform ambiguity function.
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The zero Doppler cut of a Barker code’s ambiguity function has an interesting property. All of its
sidelobes have the same height and are exactly 1/7 of the mainlobe. In fact, a length-N Barker code
can provide a peak-to-peak suppression of N, which helps distinguish closely located targets in range.
This is the most important property of the Barker code. Range resolution is approximately 10 µs, the
same as the chip width.
There are two issues associated with a Barker code. First, only seven Barker codes are known. Their
lengths are 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, and 13. Second, the Doppler performance of the Barker code is rather
poor. Although the ambiguity function has a good shape at the zero Doppler cut, once there’s some
amount of Doppler shift, the sidelobe level increases significantly.
To learn more about the topics covered in this blog, see the links below or email me at:
rgentile@mathworks.com.
Waveform Design to Improve Performance of an Existing Radar System: This example shows
how waveform type affects radar detection performance.
Waveform Design and Analysis: In these examples, you learn about pulsed and continuous
waveforms, staggered waveforms, variable PRF, matched filtering, ambiguity function, and
spectrogram.
Instrument Control Toolbox: Learn how to use this toolbox to generate arbitrary waveforms for
your test system.
Waveform Generator Block: In this two-minute video, learn how to define and output arbitrary
waveform signals using Simulink.
See additional 5G, radar, and EW resources, including those referenced in previous blog posts.
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Algorithms To Antenna - Radar Waveform Analysis Using The Ambiguity Function

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Algorithms to Antenna: Radar Waveform Analysis Using the Ambiguity... https://www.mwrf.com/systems/algorithms-antenna-radar-waveform-ana...

Algorithms to Antenna: Radar Waveform Analysis

Rick Gentile, Honglei Chen | Aug 21, 2019

1. This is the ambiguity function of rectangular waveform.

2. Depicted is the autocorrelation function of rectangular waveform.

4. This is a zero Doppler cut for a linear FM waveform.

6. This is the ambiguity function of a linear FM waveform.

7. The ambiguity function for a linear FM pulse train is shown.

10. These are the ambiguity plots for stepped FM waveform.

From these images, you can observe the following:

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