Low-Cost Analog Pulse Compression Technique Based on Mixing With an Auxiliary Pulse

A low-cost analog pulse compression technique is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for a quasi-gaussian pulse. This technique consists in multiplying the pulse to compress with an auxiliary baseband gaussian pulse, which results in a compression of √2, and re-injecting this pulse n times around a loop including an amplifier, a delay line and an isolator, so as to achieve a compression factor of √1+n. In the experiment, a pulse width compression by a factor of 2.85 is achieved after the ninth turn, in good agreement with the theory. Due to its inherent analog nature, the proposed system is flexible, easy to implement, frequency scalable and capable to handle ultra-wideband signals.