Improved ultra-low range sidelobe pulse compression waveform design

A continuous nonlinear FM waveform design capable of achieving range sidelobe levels of better than -70 dB, suitable for use with a satellite-borne precipitation radar, is presented. The waveform shows good Doppler tolerance. It is shown that slowly-varying phase and amplitude errors in the transmitter and receiver have relatively little effect, but rapidly-varying errors result in paired echo sidelobes, the level of which can be significant. A closed-loop calibration system will undoubtedly be required to remove such errors.