Abstract :
Test, measurement and verification of radar are necessary to ensure both functioning to specification and meeting customer requirements. Extensive field tests are often used to test an entire radar system; this is both costly and requires a great deal of time. To reduce test complexity and cost, radar target generation becomes more and more important. Fiber optic delay lines were already used more than 30 years ago to generate virtual radar echo signals, and are still utilized today. Digital radio frequency memories (DRFMs), specifically designed for signal capture and replay has been considerable in the last few years. Today, measurement equipment such as signal analyzers and signal generator can also simulate radar targets. This paper introduces common approaches for using radar target generators to support research and development, to test and verify existing radars and shows results of measurement equipment operating as a radar target generator.
