A dedicated computer system for FM-CW radar applications

In this paper, a DSP based computer system for FM-CW radar applications is described. Besides data acquisition and storage, the computer system can be used for front-end data processing and system control. Processing includes filtering and clutter suppression. The radar for which the computer is designed is a multi parameter atmospheric profiler capable of doing Doppler and polarimetric measurements. The computer system allows for a measurement of the full polarimetric scattering matrix over 512 range cells and 512 Doppler cells in 2 sec. Radar system control includes the timing and the settings of the radar system together with linearity correction of the sweep oscillator.