Step frequency CW radar processing

barton radar mathcad

Anybody have an example of a inverse FFT algorithm, in Mathcad or excel, that can take return signal frequency domain amplitude and phase data from a radar and turn it into return power vs distance plot? I am playing around with a stepped CW radar (send out one frequency, measure the phase and amplitude of the reflected energy, step to a new frequency and repeat, etc) and just realized I do not know the most basic way of inputing the data into a Mathcad file.

I assume I need to use the ICFFT function, but how do I set up the frequencies. The actual frequencies will be 6.3, 6.310...6.6 GHz. But I do not have a clue how to input that into a mathcad vector.

Also, I read in some HP data that they had to "extrapolate a DC return" for their IFFTs they use in their microwave measuring equipment. Not sure how to even start to do that, since I am not measuring anything in the DC to just under 6.3 GHz region!

have you check Barton, Modern Radar System Analysis?, it has a lot of .mcd software. A scanned version of the book is in the WWW (wild world web ;-)) and you can download de Mathcad programs from Artech.

Hey, thanks a lot. I needed to do some quick simulated processing for a proposal, and managed to get someting done. Lots of weird aliasing though, and can not quite figure out how to do the right number of frequency points and step size to get the distance and resolution I wanted. Will need to read A LOT more if I get the job.