Difference Set Coding in Stepped Frequency Radar

Stepped frequency radars have been extensively used to achieve high range resolution. They use inverse discrete Fourier transform (IDFT) for processing a set of different frequency pulses in radar receiver. Due to the usually small number of targets in radar scene, there is a sparsity in the time, frequency and space domain. Thus, compressive sensing (CS) is a promising solution to target detection and estimation. In this paper, we propose a novel sampling scheme using difference set codes in CS-based stepped frequency radars. In the proposed method, the required sampling rate for signal recovery can be far less than the Neuquist rate1. Simulation results show that by using difference codes for pulsating pattern, high range resolution can be achieved, and at the same time, a significant reduction in the number of transmitted pulse is obtained, compared to conventional IDFT-based processing method.