Radar receiver and a method for processing radar returns

1. A method for processing received radar returns (u(t)) of a radiated wide-band arbitrary waveform received by a radar receiver in a wide-band radar processing system using spectral processing, the method comprising:

undersampling said received wide-band radar returns (u(t)) by using a first sampling rate causing a wide frequency band of the received wide-band radar returns (u(t)) to be folded back into a baseband of a undersampling analog-to-digital converter to obtain an undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (u ds [n]);

performing spectral processing in a processor on the power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (|U ds (ω d )| 2 ) in order to obtain a discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )); and

locating, in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )), ripple frequencies indicating radar targets using the processor.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

extracting at least a first radar target information based on said located ripple frequencies in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )), wherein said first radar target information is distances to said radar targets.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein said first sampling rate is selected such that it is below a second sampling rate, wherein said second sampling rate is the sampling rate required by the wide-band radar returns in order to fulfill a Nyquist criteria, and such that a folding factor present in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )) is stable, so that said ripple frequencies may be located in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )).

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

transforming said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum (F ds (Ω d )) into a velocity domain ( (Ω d , v d )) using the Fourier transform; and

extracting a second radar target information from said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum (F ds (Ω d )) in the velocity domain ( (Ω d , v d )).

5. The method according to claim 4 , wherein said second radar target information is the velocity (v d ) of said radar targets.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the radiated wide-band arbitrary waveform has a flat frequency spectrum.

7. A radar receiver for processing radar returns in a wide-band radar processing system using spectral processing, the radar receiver comprising:

a receiver arranged to receive radar returns (u(t)) of wide-band arbitrary waveforms radiated by a transmitter;

at least one analog to digital converter operating at a first sampling rate arranged to undersample received wide-band radar returns (u(t)) thereby causing a wide frequency band of the received wide-band radar returns (u(t)) to be folded back into a baseband of the analog-to-digital converter to obtain an undersampled digital waveform (u ds [n]); and

a processor arranged to

perform spectral processing on the power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (|U ds (Ω d )| 2 ) in order to obtain a discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )), and

locate, in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )), ripple frequencies indicating radar targets.

8. The radar receiver according to claim 7 , wherein the radar receiver is arranged to extract at least a first radar target information based on said located ripple frequencies in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )), wherein said first radar target information is distances to said radar targets.

9. The radar receiver according to claim 7 , wherein said first sampling rate of said at least one analog to digital converter is selected such that it is below a second sampling rate, wherein said second sampling rate is the sampling rate required by the wide-band radar returns in order to fulfill the Nyquist criteria, and such that a folding factor present in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )) is stable, so that said ripple frequencies remain may be located in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )).

10. The radar receiver according to claim 7 , wherein said processor is further arranged to:

transform said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum (F ds (Ω d )) into a velocity domain ( (Ω d , v d )) using the Fourier transform; and

extract at least a second radar target information from said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum (F ds (Ω d )) in the velocity domain ( (Ω d , v d )).

11. The radar receiver according to claim 10 , wherein said second radar target information is the velocity (v d ) of said radar targets.

12. A digital wide-band radar processing system, comprising:

a radar receiver comprising

a receiver arranged to receive radar returns (u(t)) of wide-band arbitrary waveforms radiated by a transmitter,

at least one analog to digital converter operating at a first sampling rate arranged to undersample received wide-band radar returns (u(t)) thereby causing a wide frequency band of the received wide-band radar returns (u(t)) to be folded back into a baseband of the analog-to-digital converter to obtain an undersampled digital waveform (u ds [n]), and

a processor arranged to

perform spectral processing on the power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (|U ds (Ω d )| 2 ) in order to obtain a discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )), and

locate, in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )), ripple frequencies indicating radar targets.

13. A computer program product for use in a radar receiver, said computer program product comprising:

a computer readable medium; and

computer readable code recorded on the computer readable medium and executable by a processor which when run in the radar receiver causes said radar receiver to perform the steps of:

undersampling received wide-band radar returns (u(t)) by using a first sampling rate causing a wide frequency band of the received wide-band radar returns (u(t)) to be folded back into a baseband of a undersampling analog-to-digital converter to obtain an undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (u ds [n]);

performing spectral processing on the power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (|U ds (ω d )| 2 ) in order to obtain a discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )); and

locating, in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )), ripple frequencies indicating radar targets.

14. The computer program product for use in a radar receiver according to claim 13 , wherein the computer readable code is further for performing the step of:

extracting at least a first radar target information based on said located ripple frequencies in said discrete ripple frequency power spectrum of said undersampled digital wide-band radar waveform (F ds (Ω d )).