Synthetic high resolution radar for target identification

Target identification presents severe technical complications even with nowadays technical capabilities. At INTA's Detectability Laboratory we have developed a synthetic stepped-frequency high resolution system with optical tracking and generation of frequencies configurable between 6 and 18 GHz, which has been developed as part of a research project on non-cooperative target identification. The digital post-processing is based in the superheterodyne principle and provides detailed information on the targets. In particular, it allows to acquire high resolution range profiles (HRRP) and to manipulate them in order to obtain ISAR images. Here we illustrate the methods used in our tests and present various examples of the applications of this radar, e.g. to the identification of small targets (where the radar resolution is shown) and the obtention of ISAR images from measured profiles.