How to Create and Manipulate Radar Range-Doppler Plots

Abstract : This report lays out the mathematical framework and reasoning involved in addressing the question of how to produce false targets in both range and Doppler to jam a radar. The explanations here are given from first principles in order to clarify the approach used in writing software to address the task. They constitute standard radar theory as seen through the eyes of a physicist, and are recorded as background to the approach taken in addressing the jamming problem in a later report, to be published. We discuss how a radar generates a range Doppler plot, using a set of parameters that describe the outgoing radar signal and the relevant characteristics of the target whose impulse response is known. We also explain necessary concepts from a mathematical physicist s viewpoint: bounds on pulse parameters, correlation/convolution, the theory of Hilbert transforms, the relevant Fourier analysis, and general concepts of radar signal processing such as ambiguity functions and the maximum detectable range of a target. This entire discussion is aimed at indicating the approach and philosophy used to solve the various problems encountered while working on the task.