Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Bickler, T. C..
In proposed Target Simulator for Testing Synthetic-Aperture Radars, radar transmitter output received, mixed down to video frequencies, and passed through variable digital delay. Delayed signal mixed up to original carrier frequency and transmitted back to radar. Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) generates return signal that contains range-curvature information in addition to Doppler-frequency information.
A simulator for simulating the radar return, or echo, from a target seen by a SAR antenna mounted on a platform moving with respect to the target is described. It includes a first-in first-out memory which has digital information clocked in at a rate related to the frequency of a transmitted radar signal and digital information clocked out with a fixed delay defining range between the SAR and the simulated target, and at a rate related to the frequency of the return signal. An RF input signal having a frequency similar to that utilized by a synthetic aperture array radar is mixed with a local oscillator signal to provide a first baseband signal having a frequency considerably lower than that of the RF input signal.