Detection Performance of Soft-Limited Phase-Coded Signals

General analytic expressions are developed for the soft-limited digital pulse compressor (matched filter). This theoretical development is then used for the hardware realization of a two-channel (I,Q), 3-bit-limited digital pulse compressor with a compression ratio of 255: 1. The realized hardware uses state of the art integrated circuit devices. An experimental laboratory setup is described. This setup is used to study hard-limited versus 3-bit-limited matched-filter performance characteristics with the data in the following areas: 1) constant false alarm rate (CFAR) characteristics as a function of threshold settings and noise levels; 2) single target detection characteristics as a function of input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR); and 3) two target performance characteristics: a) the amplitude of a weaker target as a function of target ratio and target overlap; and b) the detection characteristics of a weaker target as a function of weaker target SNR, strong target SNR, and target overlap.