Subbanded Processing for Ultrawideband Fmcw Radar for Snow Measurements

Abstract

An ultrawideband 2-18 GHz FMCW radar was developed in [1], for measurement and mapping of snow thickness. For use in domestic areas, certain frequency bands might need to be notched out to avoid interference. Loss of bandwidth degrades the radar’s performance and range resolution, and hence its ability to measure thin snow (< 10 cm). This paper presents a method to estimate data in the notched frequencies by performing a time-domain interpolation between available subbands. An all-pole model is fitted to known data, parameters are optimized, and estimates generated using the fitted model. The algorithm is tested on field data collected in 2016 with 5 frequency bands notched out for a total loss of 2 GHz. The results are visualized using echograms and compared to full bandwidth data.