Near-Field Compensation for Coherent Radar Networks

Abstract

With radar networks, the resolution of critical radar parameters like Doppler and angle can be improved compared to a single radar sensor. As the network’s aperture is considerably larger than the one of a single radar, a much higher angular resolution is achieved. However, with a large aperture, range- dependent phase deviations, i.e. near-field effects, occur and affect the angle estimation. In this work, these near-field effects are evaluated exemplarily for a coherent network. Furthermore, a new strategy to compensate those network near-field effects is proposed and demonstrated based on measurements. The benefits of the near-field compensation are emphasized by comparing the networks angle-estimation capabilities with and without compensated near-field effects.