A general approach to the estimation of measurement errors in microwave range finding

A simple and precise relationship between system quantities and resulting ranging errors is analytically deduced. The ranging error turns out to be proportional to the disturbance amplitude per RF bandwidth. One acquires the control factor S, which is a function of the applied system philosophy as well as the observed disturbance phenomenon. Hereby an innovative tool is presented, which should enable the choice of the optimum system configuration by finding one with minimum S. However, the ranging performance depends on quality aspects, too. This is considered, when quantity factors are presented for both frequency domain and time do main radar measurements, as well as for clutter with both deterministic and stochastic character. Furthermore, it is shown how to estimate the effect of quantization noise of A/D-converters on ranging errors. The theoretical approach is proven to give an excellent correspondence to simulations and measurements.