Linear chirp generator based on direct digital synthesis and frequency multiplication for airborne FMCW snow probing radar

Abstract

This paper presents a linear chirp generator for synthesizing ultra-wideband signals for use in an FM-CW radar being used for airborne snow thickness measurements. Ultra-wideband chirp generators with rigorous linearity requirements are needed for long-range FMCW radars. The chirp generator is composed of a direct digital synthesizer and a frequency multiplier chain. The implementation approach combines recently available high-speed digital, mixed signal, and microwave components along with a frequency pre-distortion technique to synthesize a 6-GHz chirp signal over 240 μs with a <;0.02 MHz/μs deviation from linearity.