An analysis of the detection performance of a digital hard limited phased encoded CFAR

A common method used to obtain CFAR in a phase coded radar system is to sign encode the baseband signal before pulse compression. This one bit encoding results in processing loss due to clipping and quantization. This paper presents an examination of a hard limited system with different numbers of bits to reduce the quantization loss. It is shown that for small time-bandwidth products, the gain in detection is greater than 1.5 dB, while for large time-bandwidth products, it is approximately 1.0 dB. An implementation of an n-bit system using an MTI for clutter suppression is presented. The applicability of the processor to linear sidelobe blanking and multi-CFAR processing is also discussed.