Digital Signal Processing Reference
In-Depth Information
is the shape of the pulse p ( t ) that makes the autocorrelation R pp ( τ ) nar-
rowest (in some well defined mathematical sense)? This is called the pulse
compression problem because p ( t ) is “compressed” into R pp ( τ ). The pulse
compression ratio, defined in the next section, is the extent to which the
duration has been compressed when going from p ( t )to R pp ( τ ) . The reader
interested in this important topic should pursue references such as Van
Trees [2001] and Levanon and Mozeson [2004].
2.5.2 The chirp or LFM signal
A commonly used waveform in radar applications is the chirp waveform
p ( t )= e jπKt 2 .
(2 . 57)
Here K is a positive constant called the chirp parameter. It has the dimension
(Hz) 2 so that Kt 2 is dimensionless. The above signal is called the complex chirp
to distinguish it from the real version cos( πKt 2 ). The finite-duration version
of this waveform provides an excellent compression ratio as we shall see. For
a preview of what the waveform looks like, see Figs. 2.32 and 2.35. We can
regard p ( t ) as a signal with “instantaneous frequency” which increases linearly
with time. For the waveform e 0 t the fixed frequency ω 0 is the derivative of
the phase ω 0 t . Similarly for the chirp waveform the “instantaneous frequency”
is the derivative
d ( πKt 2 )
dt
=2 πKt
rad / s .
Dividing by 2 π we get the instantaneous frequency in hertz:
f t = Kt
Hz.
(2 . 58)
Since this is linearly increasing with time, p ( t ) is also called a linear frequency
modulated (or LFM ) waveform. It can be shown that the Fourier transform of
p ( t ) is given by [Papoulis, 1968] 11
1
1
K e jπ/ 4 e −jω 2 / 4 πK =
K e jπ/ 4 e −jπf 2 /K ,
P ( )=
(2 . 59)
=1 / K for all ω, and
where we have used ω =2 πf. Note that
=
1 for all t. Thus, both the function and its Fourier transform are spread out
uniformly! The real part of the complex chirp is the real-chirp function
|
P ( )
|
|
p ( t )
|
p re ( t ) = cos( πKt 2 ) ,
(2 . 60)
and this has the Fourier transform (Problem 2.10)
K cos ω 2
.
1
π
4
P re ( )=
4 πK
(2 . 61)
11 See Problem 2.10. Note that p ( t ) is not absolutely integrable, nor square integrable. Its
Fourier transform exists only if it is interpreted as a Cauchy principal value [Papoulis, 1968],
that is, as the limit of a
−a p ( t ) e −j 2 πft dt as a →∞.
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