We present the design and characterization of a ground-based, zenith-pointing, 94 GHz FMCW Doppler radar demonstrator for cloud profiling. The radar uses an all solid-state and relatively simple homodyne architecture and two, low sidelobe 0.5 m diameter Fresnel zone plate antennas to reduce system costs. The low-phase noise, coherent radar employs a direct digital synthesis (DDS) chip for highly linear chirp generation. The design will be able to leverage ongoing future improvements in mm-wave low noise and power amplifier technology to maximize sensitivity. Once the radar is installed in a rooftop location, the processor will perform real-time range-Doppler measurements with averaging, to yield target velocity spectra as a function of altitude

Date Published: 1 May 2017
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 10188, Radar Sensor Technology XXI, 101880X (1 May 2017); doi: 10.1117/12.2261871

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 10188:
Radar Sensor Technology XXI
Kenneth I. Ranney; Armin Doerry, Editor(s)