Scanned time/angle correlation: a new method for super-resolution

Abstract

Angular resolution is the key parameter in several important radar functions including target tracking and target imaging. Conventional means of increasing angular resolution are to implement monopulse, which will effectively split the real antenna beamwidth down by a factor of 10 or 20, or to increase the size of the antenna aperture, either through making the physical antenna larger or through synthetic aperture means. Increases in antenna physical size are limited by form factor, weight and economics, while synthetic aperture techniques require both time (i.e. coherent processing interval) and either motion of the target of the antenna platform. In the following paper, an innovative super-resolution technique called scanned time/angle correlation (STAC) is introduced. The STAC technique is capable of effectively splitting the real antenna beamwidth by a factor or a 1000 or more, doesn't require a separate channel or front-end hardware, and does not require synthetic aperture processing.