A New Technique for Doppler Frequency Compensation and Estimation for High-speed Targets in Phase-Coded Radars

Moving targets are a real threat to pulse compression radars, especially those operating with Doppler-intolerant waveforms. As the Doppler frequency increases, the radar system performance degrades accordingly. In the case of high-speed targets, the Doppler frequency is high enough to distort the received signal, and consequently, the matched filter output is distorted. Therefore, no target information could be extracted. In this paper, we introduce a new Doppler compensation (DC) and estimation technique for phase-coded pulse compression radars to allow the detection of high-speed targets. Moreover, their Doppler frequency value is estimated without ambiguity from one burst and without the need for a range-Doppler module. In addition, the proposed method does not require a synchronization system to perform its function. As such, the implementation of the proposed method is simple and inexpensive. The performance evaluation of the new method shows its superiority in compensation and estimation when examined under higher Doppler frequency and noise compared to a conventional radar.