Development and Calibration of a Low-Cost Radar Testbed Based on the Universal Software Radio Peripheral

Abstract

For a cognitive radar algorithm to be useful, it must run on radar hardware that is flexible. Typically, this has been viewed as requiring a software-defined radio. With the emergence of cheap, digital transceiver systems, such as the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) from Ettus, these systems are cheaper than ever to produce. This article reports on the development of a USRP-based radar system. Calibration testing for radar cross section is undertaken. The phase noise is characterized as having a standard deviation of 0.02 radians. Detections of commercial aircraft at ranges up to 5.5 km are demonstrated. An adaptive update interval tracking experiment, using the fully adaptive radar framework for cognitive radar, is reported on. In this experiment, a small unmanned aerial vehicle is detected at ranges of up to 300 m. Using the radar equation with a signal loss proportional to R-4, the interpolated maximum detection range is approximately 600 m.