Advances of Noise Radar for Remote Sensing (ANR-RS)

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays classical radar technology is mature, but classical radar sensors have many drawbacks and constrains, such as range and Doppler ambiguity, limitations in imaging due to short observation time, poor resistance against interferences, etc. Noise Radar (NR) exploits noise/random or pseudo-random signals for target illumination. The use of such waveforms provides completely new features for newly developed sensors, such as lack of range ambiguity even for periodic pulsed probing signals. More than 30 years of R&D activities in Noise Radar Technology (NRT) have revealed its great potentiality for many radar applications and, in particular, in Remote Sensing of the environment and various objects. NRT could potentially open the new fields of NR applications in remote sensing systems design.

NRT uses random noise waveforms (NW) as a sounding signal and coherent processing for NR returns reception. Basic properties of Noise Waveform have been investigated from the viewpoint of NR design. It has been shown that NRT has the potential to meet today’s requirements for advanced radar sensor design. NRT enables independent variation of range and velocity resolutions and ambiguities, which is not the case for other waveforms. Furthermore, NR systems display excellent Interference Immunity and Electro-Magnetic Compatibility (EMC) performance and potentiality for implementing of covert operation. Nowadays, an efficient signal processing in NR might be implemented on the basis of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) technology.

Application of Fast ADCs and FPGA-based Digital Signal Processors (DSP) gives an excellent basis for the design of dedicated DSPs for real-time processing of noise radar returns and implementation of both the random signal generation and the radar return processing required for NR implementations.

Noise Radar Technology enables essential enhancements of sensor performance, such as:

- Better performance in immunity against interference;
- Better electromagnetic compatibility performance between different type radar sensors and different NR sub-units through better interference immunity.
- No range ambiguity even for pulse noise radar.
- Spectrum sharing problem may be easier solved using orthogonality of the random feeling of different probing pulses, provided high enough BT product: wide enough power spectrum bandwidth, B, along with long enough integration time, T.

All this makes application of NRT in radar system design promising for various remote sensing applications. However, there are still many challenges in implementing radar systems, based upon Noise Waveform which requires additional R&D efforts.

That is why the NRT is under intense investigations in many national laboratories in different countries and , also, via international cooperation in ad-hoc Groups, such as those affiliated with NATO Sensors and Electronic Technology (SET) Research Task Group (RTG): SET RTG-101 on “Noise Radar Technology” which was leaded by K. Lukin and held a set of joint trials in Kharkov, Ukraine, in June 2008, and, also, under the follow-on SET RTG-184 on “Capabilities of Noise Radar” in a series of trials during September and October 2013, and continued by the ensuing SET RTG-225 on “Spatial and Waveform Diverse Noise Radar” in the field trials in June and December 2018. From 2020, research activity on NRT will be continued under the aegis of the recently approved NATO/STO SET-287  TG on "Characterization of Noise Radar", co-chaired by K. Lukin and C. Wasserzier.

The proposed Special Issue on Advances of Noise Radar for Remote Sensing is devoted to many theoretical and the experimental sides of NRT advancing with special focusing on its applications for design of Ground Based, Airborne and Space-borne Remote Sensing Systems. Hence, ANR-RS Issue invites all interested authors to submit their contributions related, but not limited to, the following areas:

1. Random/Noise Waveforms for Noise Radar Remote Sensing Systems (NR-RSS)
2. Combination of Noise Radar Imaging and Communication systems
3. Antenna for NR-RSS: design, modelling and experiments
4. Theory and experiments with advanced NR: SAR, ISAR, Polarimetric, MIMO, MISO
5. NR-RSS experiments with various antennas: rotating, steering and antenna arrays
6. Methods and hardware for real-time generation and processing of NR waveforms
7. Noise Radar Remote Sensing from moving platforms: ground, airborne and space borne
8. High PRF Space Borne Noise SAR
9. Applications of Noise SAR systems for border area monitoring
10. Applications of Ground Noise SAR for monitoring of large civil engineering objects: Dumbs, Bridges, Hangars, buildings, TV towers, etc.
11. Real-time 2D and 3D imaging: microwave video-cameras

Prof. Vito Pascazio
Prof. Konstantin Lukin
Prof. Krzysztof Kulpa
Guest Editors

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