Medium PRF set selection for pulsed Doppler radars using simulated annealing

In medium pulse repetition frequency(PRF) radars, the use of more than one PRF is required to resolve the ambiguities in both range and Doppler frequency. This paper proposes a novel pulse repetition frequency(PRF) selection scheme in medium PRF pulsed-Doppler radars. The optimization is driven by the requirement not only to minimize the blind zone in the range and velocity space but also to ensure the full decodability of the true range and Doppler frequency. Simulated annealing algorithm, which effectively finds globally optimal solutions of a given cost function, is exploited to obtain an optimal PRF set. In this process, we devise a good initial state, suitable step size and temperature schedule for rapid and accurate convergence. Design examples are presented to explicitly ascertain the reliability and efficiency of the proposed algorithm in finding an optimal PRF set.