abstract: In this paper, the Software Defined Radio (SDR) platform is considered for building a pseudo-monostatic, 100MHz Pulse-Doppler radar. The SDR platform has many benefits for experimental communications systems as it offers relatively cheap, parametrically dynamic, off-the-shelf access to the Radiofrequency (RF) spectrum. For this application, the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) X310 hardware package is utilized with GNURadio for interfacing to the device and Matlab for signal post- processing. Pulse doppler radar processing is used to ascertain the range and velocity of a target considered in simulation and in real, over-the-air (OTA) experiments. The USRP platform offers a scalable and dynamic hardware package that can, with relatively low overhead, be incorporated into other experimental systems. This radar system will be considered for implementation into existing over-the-air Joint Radar- Communications (JRC) spectrum sharing experiments. The JRC system considers a co-designed architecture in which a communications user and a radar user share the same spectral allocation. Where the two systems would traditionally consider one another a source of interference, the receiver is able to decode communications information and discern target information via pulse-doppler radar simultaneously. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2019

This thesis presents a simulation of an LFM pulse-Doppler radar for surface-to-air applications and compares the performance of multiple CFAR detectors in processing the resulting range-Doppler maps. Each CFAR detector is reviewed and simulated. Their effectiveness in reducing target masking is analyzed. In addition, a new CFAR detector, the RDWT-CA-CFAR detector, is developed that uses the CDF 5/3 wavelet to decompose the range-data of the range-Doppler map along the range dimension and filter the target data from the reference cells, as a means to reduce or eliminate target masking. The QccPack library is used to perform RDWT functions. It is shown that the novel RDWT-CA-CFAR detector performs better in processing range-Doppler maps when compared to the other robust CFAR detectors covered in this project.

The objective of the proposed research is to develop a new algorithm for range and Doppler ambiguity resolution in radar detection data using L1 minimization methods for sparse signals and to investigate the properties of such techniques. This novel approach to ambiguity resolution makes use of the sparse measurement structure of the post-detection data in multiple pulse repetition frequency radars and the resulting equivalence of the computationally intractable L0 minimization and the surrogate L1 minimization methods. The ambiguity resolution problem is cast as a linear system of equations which is then solved for the unique sparse solution in the absence of errors. It is shown that the new technique successfully resolves range and Doppler ambiguities and the recovery is exact in the ideal case of no errors in the system. The behavior of the technique is then investigated in the presence of real world data errors encountered in radar measurement and detection process. Examples of such errors include blind zone effects, collisions, false alarms and missed detections. It is shown that the mathematical model consisting of a linear system of equations developed for the ideal case can be adjusted to account for data errors. Empirical results show that the L1 minimization approach also works well in the presence of errors with minor extensions to the algorithm. Several examples are presented to demonstrate the successful implementation of the new technique for range and Doppler ambiguity resolution in pulse Doppler radars.

Cette thèse a pour objectif d’améliorer la détection de cibles lentes et de faible réflectivité dans le cas de radars de sol Doppler pulsés à fréquence de récurrence intermédiaire. Ces radars, hautement ambigus en distance et en vitesse, émettent de façon consécutive des trains d’impulsions de périodes de récurrence différentes, afin de lever les ambiguïtés.L’émission successive de trains d’impulsions de courtes durées conduit à une faible capacité de séparation sur l’axe Doppler. Par conséquent, les objets lents de faible réflectivité, comme les drones, sont difficiles à distinguer du fouillis de sol. A l’issue du traitement Doppler conventionnel qui vise à éliminer les échos de fouillis, les performances de détection de ces cibles sont fortement atténuées. Pour palier à ce problème, nous avons développé une nouvelle chaîne de traitement 2D distance/Doppler pour les radars à fréquence de récurrence intermédiaire. Celle-ci s’appuie, en premier lieu, sur un algorithme itératif permettant d’exploiter la diversité temporelle entre les trains d’impulsions émis, afin de lever les ambiguïtés en distance et en vitesse et de détecter les cibles rapides exo-fouillis. La détection des cibles lentes endo-fouillis est ensuite réalisée à l’aide d’un détecteur adaptatif. Une nouvelle approche, permettant d’associer les signaux issus de rafales de caractéristiques différentes pour l’estimation de la matrice de covariance, est utilisée en vue d’optimiser les performances de détection. Les différents tests effectués sur données simulées et réelles pour évaluer les traitements développés et la nouvelle chaîne de traitement, ont montré l’intérêt de ces derniers. / The aim of this thesis is to enhance the detection of slow-moving targets with low reflectivity in case of ground-based pulse Doppler radars operating in intermediate pulse repetition frequency. These radars are highly ambiguous in range and Doppler. To resolve ambiguities, they transmit successively short pulse trains with different pulse repetition intervals. The transmission of short pulse trains results in a poor Doppler resolution. As consequence, slow-moving targets with low reflectivity, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, are buried into clutter returns. One of the main drawbacks of the classical Doppler processing of intermediate pulse repetition frequency pulse Doppler radars is the low detection performance of small and slowly-moving targets after ground clutter rejection. In order to address this problem, a two-dimensional range / Dopper processing chain including new techniques is proposed in this thesis. First, an iterative algorithm allows to exploit transmitted pulse trains temporal diversity to resolve range and Doppler ambiguities and detect fast, exo-clutter, targets. The detection of slow, endo-clutter, targets is then performed by an adaptive detection scheme. It uses a new covariance matrix estimation approach allowing the association of pulse trains with different characteristics in order to enhance detection performance. The different tests performed on simulated and real data to evaluate the proposed techniques and the new processing chain have shown their effectiveness.

In this thesis, an Experimental Radar System is designed and constructed for use in experimental radar studies such as clutter measurement and target detection, both in the laboratory and outdoor. COTS laboratory equipments are utilized as hardware elements of the radar and MATLAB is used as signal processing and user interface software tool. Vector signal generator (as transmitter), spectrum analyzer with vector signal analysis (as receiver), a high power amplifier, a low noise amplifier, horn antennas and a computer are the hardware units of the system. Various transmit signals are generated and pulse Doppler processing is performed at the receiver side. The system is controlled through the user interface which runs on a PC.

In radars, matched filters are used in the receiver of the system. Since the target velocity is not known a priori, degradation occurs due to mismatch of the return signal and the matched filter. The performance of the radar can be improved by using a bank of matched filters. The first topic investigated in this work is optimization of the bank of matched filter structure. Two methods are proposed for the design of the parallel filter structure and computations are performed with both methods. The output signal of a radar receiver filter consists not only of the main peak from the target but also of range sidelobes. In a multi-target radar environment, the sidelobes of one large target may appear as a smaller target at another range, or the integrated sidelobes from targets or clutter may mask all the information of another target. The second part of this thesis discusses the methods for decreasing the sidelobe level of the receiver output. Two methods are studied for this purpose. The first is the classical amplitude weighting and the second is the use of an inverse filter that minimizes total sidelobe energy. Both methods decrease the sidelobe levels while bringing a mismatch loss and main peak broadening. For the inverse filter case it is observed that the effect of inverse filter becomes evident as the filter length is increased beyond some point. Finally, the effects of quantization on video signal and the receiver filter coefficients are evaluated. It is observed that 16 bits quantization is sufficient for all kinds of receiver filters tested.

La « vision » à travers les milieux opaques (murs, cloisons, décombres, ou plus généralement tout milieu qui occulte la vision humaine) est l’un des problèmes clefs du contrôle et de la sécurité. Il apparaît à l’heure actuelle un réel besoin de disposer de dispositifs d’observation à travers ces milieux pour des applications tant militaires (lors des assauts, des prises d’otages, etc.) que civiles (recherche de personnes enfouies dans des décombres, dans un incendie, etc). Les avancées sur cette problématique ont conduit à mettre en place des systèmes radars à très courte portée, opérationnels pour la détection et le tracking de personnes dans des environnements simples. Cependant ils nécessitent que les cibles soient en déplacement afin de les différencier des objets statiques. Cette limitation constitue un défaut majeur pour un certain nombre de scénarii réels où des personnes, par stratégie ou par contrainte, restent immobiles. Ces travaux de thèse visent à explorer les mécanismes de détection de personnes statiques par le biais de leurs micro-mouvements, e.g. des mouvements induits par le thorax lors de la respiration. Nous avons étudié - d’un point de vue théorique - les principes physiques sous-jacents à la détection de ces micro-mouvements par radar UWB impulsionnel à partir du mécanisme Doppler impulsionnel. Ce dernier s’appuie sur des mesures consécutives des phases des impulsions réfléchies. La compréhension de ce phénomène a permis de définir une architecture radar impulsionnelle et de la positionner, en termes de contributions, au regard des différents radars UWB proposés dans la littérature : le FMCW et le radar de bruit. Deux dispositifs radars ont servi de support à ce travail. Le premier, de type démonstrateur académique, repose sur l’utilisation d’un oscilloscope rapide pour numériser les impulsions UWB de 3 à 6 GHz de bande. Il a permis de mettre en place une chaîne de traitement complète de vision à travers les murs. Le second dispositif est un prototype radar développé autour d’une plateforme de numérisation ultra-rapide (100 Gsps par échantillonnage équivalent) de fréquence de rafraîchissement très élevée (100 Hz). Il est construit autour d’un FPGA, d’un ADC rapide (1,25 GHz) et d’un T&H très large bande (18 GHz). Il permet ainsi la détection des micro-mouvements par traitement Doppler impulsionnel. / "Vision" through opaque environments (walls, partitions, rubble, or any environment that obscures human vision) is one of the key issues of control and security. Advances on this issue have led to operational shortrange radar systems for people detection and tracking in simple environments. However, most of them require the targets to move in order to differentiate them from static objects. This requirement constitues a major shortcoming for a certain number of real scenarios where people, by strategies or by constraints, remain motionless. Hence, this thesis aims to explore the mechanisms of detection of static people through their micro-movements, e.g. movements induced by the thorax during breathing. We have studied - from a theoretical point of view - the physical principles underlying the detection of these micro-movements by pulsed UWB radar with the pulsed Doppler phenomenon, which relies on consecutive measurements of the reflected pulses phases. The understanding of this phenomenon made it possible to define a radar architecture and to position it, in terms of contributions, with regard to the different UWB radars proposed in the literature : the FMCW and the noise radar. Two radar devices served as support for this work. An academic demonstrator based on the use of a fast oscilloscope to digitize the pulses. It allowed to set up a complete processing chain for the application of vision through the walls. The second device is a radar prototype developed around a high-speed scanning platform (100 Gsps perequivalent sampling) with a very high refresh rate (100 Hz). This prototype is built around an FPGA, a fast ADC (1.25 GHz) and a very wide band T&H (18 GHz). This thereby enables to detect micro-movements by pulsed Doppler processing.