Digital LPI Radar Detector

• Main Authors: Ong, Peng Ghee, Teng, Haw Kiad
• Other Authors: Schleher, D.C.
• Published: Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School. 2014
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10945/43859

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited === The function of a Low Probability ofIntercept (LPI) radar is to prevent its interception by an Electronic Support (ES) receiver. This objective is generally achieved through the use of a radar waveform that is mismatched to those waveforms for which an ES receiver is tuned. This allows the radar to achieve a processing gain, with respect to the ES receiver, that is equal to the time-bandwidth product ofthe radar waveform. This processing gain allows the LPI radar to overcome the range-squared advantage ofthe ES receiver in conventional situations. Consequently, a conventional ES receiver can only detect an LPI radar at very short ranges (<3 nm). The focus of this thesis was to develop an ES receiver to detect LPI radar signals with the same sensitivity as conventional pulse signals. It implements a detector which employs a technique, known as "deramping," that forms an adaptive matched filter to the linear FMCW LPI radar signal in order to achieve the processing gain that is equal to the received signal's time-bandwidth product. An experimental transmitter was built to emulate the radar signal with FMCW characteristics and transmitted through a standard gain horn. The transmitted signal is then received via a receiver horn, mixed down to an intermediate frequency (IF), sampled by an A/D convenor and digitally deramped using a Pentium II computer. It was demonstrated that the LPI radar signal can be extracted from the noise background by means of digital deramping