Hardware design for modern radar processing

Programmability and flexibility are often emphasised in today´s hardware design for modern radar processing, but in many radar applications this does not lead to the desired optimum hardware solution, especially if application-specific requirements, such as limited processor size and power consumption combined with extremely high throughputs, play a key role. Many parts of a radar processing system can be optimised if dedicated hardware solutions are permitted for the so-called `bulk-processing´, which requires a low degree of flexibility and has a high algorithmic regularity. In this paper some arguments are given in favour of combined programmable/dedicated-hardware solutions for radar processing applications, supported by illustrative application and design examples