Simulation and analysis of pulse compression for weather radars

Wideband waveform techniques, such as pulse compression, allow for accurate weather measurements in a short data acquisition time. However, for extended targets such as precipitation systems, range sidelobes mask and corrupt observations of weak phenomena occurring near areas of strong echoes. Therefore, sidelobe suppression is extremely important in precisely determining the echo scattering region. A simulation procedure is developed to describe the signal returns from distributed targets with pulse compression. The simulation procedure is capable of generating signals from test targets with sharp gradients with different velocities and spectral widths at each range location. The results from the simulation are used to evaluate the performance of range sidelobe suppression techniques for distributed targets. The evaluation shows the effect of Doppler velocity estimates in the presence of reflectivity gradients. Comparative analysis of the sidelobe suppression procedures with Doppler tolerant procedures is presented in the context of fluctuating weather targets