Processing Radar Reflections Acquired with the Demorad Radar Sensor Platform

Introduction

This example demonstrates how to process and visualize FMCW radar echoes acquired via the Demorad Radar Sensor Platform with the Phased Array System Toolbox™ and Simulink®. The I/Q samples and operating parameters are read from a binary file that is provided with this example. The system setup is similar to the MATLAB® Processing Radar Reflections Acquired with the Demorad Radar Sensor Platform example.

System Setup

Radar Data Acquisition

In this section, the I/Q samples are read from the binary file using the baseband file reader. These I/Q samples recorded in the binary file are returns from the sensor without any digital processing. The file also contains the parameters that define the transmitted FMCW chirp, which were written when the file was created. These parameters are used to initialize the signal processing blocks in the model. The radar capabilities are same as what is defined in Processing Radar Reflections Acquired with the Demorad Radar Sensor Platform example.

Signal Processing

The signal processing involves pulse cancellation of received I/Q samples to remove stationary clutters in the acquired data. This is followed by beamforming, range processing and finally moving targets are detected using a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detector.

Pulse canceller A three-pulse canceller is then used to eliminate the stationary clutters from the data read using the binary file reader.

Range processing Followed by the pulse cancelling, we perform beamforming and leverage the sensor model and operating frequency of the Demorad. Demorad transmits FMCW waveform, hence the beamformed signal is range processed via FFT.

CFAR Detection A constant false alarm rate (CFAR) detector is then used to detect any moving targets within range 0 - 15 meters. Followed by this we preprocess the data before sending it on to the scope for visualization.

Visualization

Initialize the scope to visualize the range processed FMCW reflections. We set up the range-time intensity scope to visualize the data for 15 seconds.

Exploring the model

Several dialog parameters of the model are calculated by the helper function helperDemoradParams. To open the function from the model, click on Modify Simulation Parameters block. This function is executed once when the model is loaded. It exports to the workspace a structure whose fields are referenced by the dialogs.

Results and Display

The range-processed data is shown in the range-time intensity scope. It can be seen from the scope that a target is moving away from radar until 10 m and then returning towards the radar.

Summary

This example demonstrates how to process I/Q data acquired and visualize radar reflections.