MPAR: Waveform design for the weather function

An integrated target/weather surveillance at medium range, i.e. for the Terminal Manoeuvre Area (TMA) in the frame of Air Traffic Control (ATC) and regional weather monitoring, is made possible by MPAR (Multifunction Phased Array Radar) techniques, allowing a single technology to satisfy different requirements. The guidelines for system design, needed for cost/benefit analysis, were described in a previous EuRAD paper. As in many other radar applications, pulse compression is a key element to achieve the required MPAR performances with low-cost solutions using relatively low-peak-power Transmit/Receive modules. This paper describes a preferred novel solution for the waveforms to be used in the weather function of the MPAR. Performance comparison with more traditional codes is also presented.