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Conceptually, radar is fairly easy: ship out a radio wave and time how lengthy it takes to get again through an echo. Nonetheless, in apply, there are a selection of trade-offs to contemplate. For instance, producing a protracted pulse has extra vitality and vary, however limits how shut you possibly can see and likewise the system’s skill to resolve objects which might be shut to one another. Pulse compression makes use of a protracted transmission that varies in frequency. Mirrored waves might be reconstituted to behave extra like a brief pulse since there may be details about the precise timing of the mirrored vitality. [Henrik] didn’t need to make issues too simple, so he determined to construct a pulse compression radar that operates at 6 GHz.
In all equity, [Henrik] is not any neophyte in relation to radar. He’s made a number of extra conventional units utilizing a steady wave structure. Nonetheless, this kind of radar is simply present in a couple of restricted purposes on account of its inherent limitations. The brand new system can function in a steady wave mode, however may code pulses utilizing arbitrary waveforms.
Some design decisions have been made to save cash. For instance, the transmitter and receiver have restricted filtering. As well as, the receiver isn’t a superheterodyne however extra of a direct conversion receiver. The sign processing is made a lot simpler through the use of a Zynq FPGA with a dual-core ARM CPU onboard. These have been costly from regular sources however may very well be had from on-line Chinese language distributors for about $17. The system may boot Linux, though that’s future work, based on [Henrik].
At 6 GHz, every thing is more durable. Routing the PCB for DDR3 RAM can be difficult, however you possibly can learn the way it was performed within the unique publish. To say we have been impressed with the work could be an understatement. We guess you’ll be too.
Radar has come a great distance since World Battle II and is in additional locations than you would possibly guess. We hate to confess it, however we’d be extra doubtless to purchase a ready-made radar module if we would have liked it.
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