Moving vehicle range profiles measured using a noise radar

The Ohio State University ElectroScience Laboratory has built and is operating a set of noise correlation radar systems. We discuss the construction and operation of such a system designed for the foliage penetration and vehicle identification band. A noise radar operates by generating a wide band noise signal and transmitting this signal as it is. The receiving system receives signals (including those scattered by the target) and forms a cross-correlation with a delayed version of the transmitted signal. This process must be done at base band, which in this case is the band from 50 to 600 MHz (but is often much higher). Thus analogue components rather than digital cross correlation are used.