Accurate Velocity Measurement of Range Profile Cross Correlation in Stepped-Frequency Signal

Velocity measurement and compensation is the key issue of wideband radar signal processing. The algorithm of range profile cross correlation (RPCC) can independently achieve velocity estimation in stepped-frequency (SP) signal, but with limited measuring accuracy. Through the analysis of the RPCC envelop and phase, two velocity estimation algorithms were put forward: waveform analysis of RPCC and peak phase of RPCC, and the theoretical performance was derived separately. Then, a novel approach was designed based on the combination of two algorithms above, which was defined as accurate velocity measurement of RPCC. The precision of the proposed approach is approximate to that of Doppler velocity estimation, which can not only satisfy the accuracy requirement of velocity compensation, but also make it possible to the micro-motion target measurement. Simulation result has verified the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.