CONCEPTUAL DESIGN OF A DUAL-USE RADAR/COMMUNICATION SYSTEM BASED ON OFDM Dmitriy Garmatyuk Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering Miami

University, Oxford, OH and Jonathan Schuerger Department of Physics Miami University, Oxford, OH
ABSTRACT The paper describes a novel system which can be used interchangeably as a radar sensor and communication device. The system is being developed at Miami University using COTS components and its digital part is based on OFDM architecture. Arbitrary waveform generator with high-speed DSP capabilities is being used to create either random or deterministic OFDM waveforms and a high-speed ADC board is used in the receivers baseband portion to recover the incoming signals. OFDM technique is already widely used in broadband communications; however it is shown that system architecture based on this method of data coding and modulation can also be used in radar with minimum modifications. Indeed, modeling study shows that OFDM radar signals perform well in presence of jamming and interference and possess noise-like qualities making them good candidates for low probability of detect/intercept (LPI/LPD) system implementation. The system concept and design are discussed and LPI/LPD features of OFDM signals are illustrated via spectrogram. Experimental data from a baseband radar/communication digital system transceiver link operating at 300 MHz bandwidth are presented. INTRODUCTION1 Relatively recent advent of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) into battlefield operations has brought about new challenges and opportunities for radar sensing platforms. Particularly, in light of increasing importance of military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) the gap between short-range and long-range radar imaging scenarios appears to narrow, as target ranges may be as short as less than 100 meters. Numerous sensor design challenges abound in these cases [1], with the following
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three areas, among others, being of interest to imaging radar designers: Power/weight/cost: All three must be minimized to ensure longer operation time and deployment affordability on multiple platforms; High resolution of imagery: Many targets in MOUT scenarios are inherently relatively small-size makeshift redoubts, overturned cars, piles of rubble, or individual fighters; Communication capabilities and resistance to interference from friendly platforms, or jamming from hostile systems. These challenges are currently being addressed by many research teams which led to the concept of mini-SAR [2,3]. The concept of miniaturized, potentially dual-use (radar/communication), high-resolution all-weather imaging sensor can be addressed from several different perspectives; the purpose of this paper is to suggest the solution via utilizing UWB orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals and corresponding system architecture and to describe fundamental radar characteristics due to using this signaling method. OFDM as a method of digital modulation is not a new technique its concept was explored in 1960s by several researchers, e.g. [4]. However, it was not until the beginning of the 2000s that this technique and corresponding system architecture started being considered for wideband applications. There were two major reasons precluding UWB implementation of OFDM: Federal Communications Commissions (FCC) ban on commercial use of wide swaths of spectrum, which was lifted for extremely low-power signals in 2002; and unavailability of fast, inexpensive analog-todigital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters [5], as they are significant components of an OFDM system determining its bandwidth. As soon as these two hurdles were overcome, UWB OFDM became a focus of R&D efforts in the industry and academia with an emphasis on commercial broadband communications [68].

978-1-4244-2677-5/08/$25.00 2008 IEEE

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Implementation of OFDM signals and system architecture in radar, on the other hand, has not been as widely explored as in communications. Most notable research work concerning OFDM-coded radar signals is by Dr. Nadav Levanon, whose analyses of multicarrier phase coded (MCPC) radar signal performance were based on OFDM signal construction [9, 10]. Another study of OFDM-coded radar signals, published in [11], pointed out that these signals compare favorably to same-bandwidth LFM waveforms since range-Doppler coupling/ambiguity is much less pronounced in case of using OFDM signals. A theoretical derivation of error introduced by using narrowband approximation for wideband OFDM radar ambiguity function computation is then offered by the same research group in [12]. Despite the several significant advantages OFDM, and, in particular, UWB OFDM signal construction and

system architecture were not previously considered for applications in high-resolution radar/communication system hybrid. This paper is intended as an overview of such an application. OFDM SYSTEM DESIGN The system is conceived as a cost-effective, short-range, high-resolution radar and communication unit for possible implementation in airborne sensor networks. OFDM signal construction is performed in the digital block and the subsequent upconversion and amplification is performed in the conventional analog front-end (AFE) portion, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Block diagram of the designed OFDM system. OFDM signal is comprised of the N sub-carriers (subbands), which are represented as a vector of frequencydomain components, populated by the desired code pattern. If we select a ternary alphabet {0, 1} for populating these components, the signal in sample domain can then be represented as

where k is the index of a sample and xn are values of a frequency-domain vector selected from a ternary alphabet either randomly, or according to a desired code combination. The translation of sample-value signal vector s from sample domain to an electrical signal is performed using D/A converter, which is a crucial component of OFDM architecture. Assuming a certain conversion speed L samples per second we can deduce time and frequency characteristics of the output signal. From (1) it is evident

N 2 n = x cos (k ( N + 1) ) , k n 2N +1 n =1 k = 1 ... 2 N + 1 .

(1)

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that the wave is a sum of cosine RF pulses, each of duration 2N/L seconds, which is the duration of entire OFDM pulse, too. Further examining (1) we can see that the nth cosine pulse, if plotted for all ks from 1 to 2N+1, has exactly n periods within the time duration of OFDM pulse. This allows us to calculate each individual pulses physical frequency and, thus, determine its spectrums location on the frequency axis. We then observe that the described method, indeed, produced a signal with multiple sub-bands which are orthogonal to each other in that the peak of any sub-bands sinc-function spectrum coincides with zeros of all other sub-band spectra, as shown in Figure 2.

high anti-jam potential, which allows for good low probability of intercept/detect (LPI/LPD) characteristics.
OFDM SIGNAL LPI/LPD CHARACTERISTIC VIA SPECTROGRAM

In military radar and communications applications the topic of covertness and ECCM robustness of operations is often of primary concern. The actual signal construction used in radar is not the least factor in such a consideration generally, long-duration signals which possess easily identifiable characteristics such as instantaneous frequency and occupied spectrum, will perform poorly in ECM scenarios. Conversely, to effectively perform several types of jamming e.g. deception jamming mentioned in the previous section the jammer needs to be able to estimate incoming radar signal parameters in the most efficient fashion, preferably in real time. Although the detailed discussion regarding various methods of ECM/ECCM implementations is outside the scope of this paper, we offer a simple, yet clear comparative analysis of three types of baseband UWB frequency modulated

TABLE I SIGNAL PARAMETERS

Figure 2. Overlaid power spectral densities (PSD) of first 5 sub-bands, 16th and 31st sub-bands of a 32-subband OFDM signal sampled at 1 Gs/s. It is also possible to infer that the overall useful bandwidth of baseband OFDM signal is equal to half the sampling rate of D/A converter and is not dependent on any other factors (such as number of sub-bands). This observation also explains why UWB OFDM systems were not implemented earlier, as stated in the Introduction. It also adds to the list of UWB OFDM benefits the advantage of scalability, as implementing a faster D/A and A/D converters would allow to instantly upgrade the resolution of such a radar system. Thus, simplest UWB OFDM wave-shaping system can consist of only two major blocks IFFT digital module and D/A converter. This architecture is suitable for radar, although it is not optimal for OFDM communication system implementation where QPSK and convolutional encoders often precede IFFT processor to increase coding gain and improve spectral efficiency and some portion of the pulse itself is used for synchronization purposes (cyclic prefix). Parameter Bandwidth Sampling frequency of interceptor Observation window of interceptor Signal duration Signal energy (at interceptor) SNR Units MHz MHz ns ns
W

Value 500 5000 1280 256 0.1 01

dB

waveforms LFM chirp, random frequency-hopping (FH) and OFDM via spectrogram using short-time discrete Fourier transform. Spectrogram is a method of time-frequency analysis which can be used to extract information about an incoming waveform [13] e.g. hop instance detection for unknown FH signals [14]. If comparison between spectrogram realizations of several radar signals is desired, these signals need to be designed so that they are of the equal time duration and equal bandwidth, which also implies equal sampling rate to model signal acquisition otherwise, the comparison results will be

Next section will describe one of the major advantages of using OFDM signals in sensor network applications 3 of 7

meaningless. Thus, we have established the following characteristics which were applied to each of the three signals in our comparison set shown in Table I. Both FH and OFDM signals were generated with uniform random distribution of their respective frequency components. For OFDM signal the number of sub-bands N was 128 and the sub-band fill ratio was set to 80% (i.e. approximately 20% of the elements in x vector were zeros). For FH signal the number of hops within signal duration interval is taken to be 32, so that the duration of one-frequency symbol is 8 ns. Total number of frequencies in the hop set is 40, ranging linearly from 0 to 500 MHz. As mentioned above, all three signals are generated as baseband waveforms as it is assumed that the intercepting jammer knows the carrier frequency of our transmission and is therefore capable of removing it for processing. The noise added to each signal within the observation window was AWGN.

In MATLAB implementation of the spectrogram function [15] has several variable parameters: sample window, window overlap, window shape (realized by using one of the built-in window functions) and total length of FFT operation. Identifying optimal values of these parameters is fairly straightforward for LFM and FH signals: in the former case almost any reasonable values will produce a clearly linear function of frequency as will be shown below; in the latter case we just have to make sure to choose time window length smaller than (or equal to) hop interval. OFDM waveform, however, does not lend itself as easily to spectrogram time-frequency analysis simply because it is impossible to isolate any given fraction of the signal in which a corresponding fraction of the instantaneous spectrum is contained. In other words, OFDM signal must be observed in its entirety for the spectrogram of it to be understandable. This quality is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Time-domain views of LFM, FH and OFDM signals in noise and their respective spectrograms The graphs exhibit the differences between the three types of signals from the perspective of an intercepting entity. It is easy to see that the LFM signals timefrequency behavior not only can be exactly inferred, but it can also be predicted. The tolerances in choosing appropriate time window lengths and shapes and sampling frequency are very wide and it is intuitive that the clarity of the analysis will remain the same for a number of chirps

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 not just LFM, but also non-linear FM chirps, such as quadratic, logarithmic, etc. Thus, qualitativ vely, FM chirp will require the least time for the intercep pting jammer to analyze and reproduce the signal. The seco signal FH ond pulse is admittedly more difficult to reproduce and predict, as time-frequency representation of it does not follow any mathematical function. Howeve knowing the er, hop interval and starting point of the pulse we can choose the time window so that it coincides with th hop interval, he providing for the graph shown above. L Locating y-axis maxima within each time window then clearly shows that we can, indeed, recover time-frequency po ortrait of an FH signal white dots overlaid on top of th spectrogram he graph represent both the locations of m maxima and the original values of hop frequencies in the FH signal. Of t-case scenario: course, there are limitations to this perfect the interceptor is required to know the hop interval e duration which must be constant within a pulse and n oversampling of the received signal is req quired to ensure quality capture of the signal within each h interval (in hop our case we collect 40 samples per hop in nterval of 8 ns). The third signal OFDM pulse is eviden the hardest ntly to intercept and predict. In fact, the uniquen of it is such ness that no amount of oversampling and no size of a fractional e sample window will allow the interceptor to resolve the r time-frequency characteristics of an OFDM signal precisely as shown in Figure 3. This is due to the fact y that the signal is constructed in such a way as to combine all sub-band frequencies at once. One ca only capture an OFDM signal in its entirety and perform p post-processing analysis on it to be able to reproduce it ex xactly which, evidently, will require the longest tim investment. me Moreover, even if one is capable of in ntercepting and reproducing an OFDM signal, by the time this signal can ill result in be realistically re-transmitted it wi approximately 10 dB weaker correlation (f signals with for sub-band fill ratios >50%) than the current r radar signal due to the pulse diversity capability of OFDM systems which allows a different pulse to be emitted every time. OFDM RADAR TESTING G a) Baseband Transceiver Loop Experiment The digital portion of the transceiver was then tested for generation and reception of OFDM signal with various ls sub-band compositions. There are three m main reasons the digital portion must be tested separately: nversion in the 1. Testing the accuracy of D/A con transmitter; 2. Testing the effect of cable inserti loss on the ion OFDM signal integrity; 3. Testing the accuracy of A/D signa conversion in al the receiver.

As shown in Figure 1, the sho ort-loop connection of the digital transceiver can be eas sily realized. The waveshaping portion of the transmitter based on FPGA board FM482 and integrated D/A conv verter DAC281 (2-channel, 14-bit), both produced by 4DSP Inc. The D/A converter P board is used as a daughter-card with FM482, with access d to flash memory on FM482, th enabling fast memory hus reading. The signal data is loade onto FM482 via PCI bus ed and is output as analog waveform via mini-SMA w connectors, thus enabling easy interface to subsequent y radar analog front-end compo onents. Even though the DAC281 is capable of running at 1 Gs/s sampling speed, the limitations on interconnect signal integrity between the mit FM482 and DAC281 cards lim sampling speed to 600 Ms/s in the current design. Th connection between the he transmitter and receiver is prov vided by a 3-meter SMA cable. The experimental setup is shown in Figure 8. p Random binary sub-band com mposition was used and Figure 5(a) shows the oscillosco capture of a transmitted ope 300 MHz-bandwidth OFDM pulse with approximately p 80% sub-band fill ratio. For com mparison, this signals true theoretical shape is shown on the graph of Figure 5(b), whereas Figure 5(c) shows ove erlaid transmit and receive copies of it recorded from th oscilloscope and ADC he card, respectively.

put; Figure 5: (a) Oscilloscope outp (b) Simulated OFDM pulse; (c) Transmit and receive pulses as recorded from the p system hardware.

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To estimate the goodness of signal transfer we also computed the cross-correlation function of the simulated (theoretical) and realistic received signal recorded by the ADC into the FPGA memory for subsequent processing. The result of the correlation is shown in Figure 7.

Range profiles from the experiments are shown in Figure 7(a)-(c). The two peaks in Figure 7(c) are separated by a time of 7ns which results in a separation distance of 1.05 meters. The measured distance between the targets was approx. 42 inches or 1.06 meters.

Figure 6. Correlation between the simulated and experimental received OFDM signals. It can be seen that the sidelobes are below 10 dB which may be a concern if the signal is used for high-resolution imaging where a requirement of 20 dB or better for sidelobes of a correlation function may be in place. However, this result can be improved by subsequent conditioning of the signal in the AFE which would mitigate the limitations in the D/A and A/D converters described above.
b) Radar Antenna and Range Profiling Testing

(a)

The first test consisted of range profile construction and two target resolution experiment. The targets were trihedral corner reflectors with 1-foot square sides, resulting in approximately 200 m2 RCS. Random OFDM sub-band distributions were used to test pulse diversity. Estimated signal power at the target is approximately 30 dBm, which is compliant with FCC spectral mask for UWB-OFDM transmissions. Indoor short-range experiments were conducted. Range profiles were obtained via matched filtering. The experimental setup is shown in Figure 9 (a)-(c). Three separate tests were conducted: 1. Test transmission and reception of OFDM signal with no targets (corner reflectors) present. Check cross-correlation to show only noise is received. 2. Test transmission and reception of OFDM signal with one target present. Recover range profile for the target. 3. Test transmission and reception of OFDM signal with two targets present. Recover range profile and determine distance between targets.

(b)

(c)
Fig. 7 First test results: (a) No targets, pure noise; (b) One corner reflector ~2 meters away; (c) Two corner reflectors at ~3 and 4 meters (1 meter spaced), notice two distinct peaks.

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CONCLUSION

[9] [10] [11]

We have described the novel conceptual design of a dualuse radar/communication system based on OFDM architecture which is being assembled at Miami University. One of the main benefits of using OFDM in such a system is high pulse diversity allowing improved anti-detection and, therefore, anti-jam performance. The difficulty of intercepting OFDM signals is illustrated using a simple spectrogram approach in comparison with LFM and FH waveforms. Signal shaping is, therefore, an important component in OFDM applications and it was tested via experimental short-loop transceiver analysis at 600 Ms/s sampling speed. The general limitations of such a system and potential methods of their mitigation are discussed and the signal integrity aspects of OFDM signal generation are illustrated. It is shown that the sidelobes of the correlation function between the theoretical simulated OFDM pulse and the actual received signal are below -10 dB for a random sub-band distribution.
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N. Levanon, Multifrequency complementary phase-coded radar signal, in IEE Proc. Radar, Sonar Navig., vol. 147, no. 6, pp. 276284, Dec. 2000. N. Levanon and E. Mozeson, Radar Signals. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience, 2004. G. E. A. Franken, H. Nikookar, and P. van Genderen, Doppler tolerance of OFDM-coded radar signals, in Proc. 2006 European Radar Conf., Manchester, UK, 2006, pp. 108111. M. Ruggiano and P. van Genderen, Wideband ambiguity function and optimized coded radar signals, in Proc. 2007 European Radar Conf., Munich, Germany, 2007, pp. 142 145. R. A. Altes, Detection, estimation and classification with spectrograms, Journ. Acoust. Soc. of America, vol. 67, no. 4, pp. 12321246, Apr. 1980. Xiangqian Liu, N. D. Sidiropoulos, and A. Swami, Blind high-resolution localization and tracking of multiple frequency-hopped signals, IEEE Trans. Signal Proc., vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 889901, Apr. 2002. Spectrogram (Signal Processing Toolbox), MATLAB Help files, The MathWorks, Inc., Natick, MA, 2006.

[2] [3]

Figure 8: Experimental setup for tranceiver loop test.

[4]

[5] [6] [7]

(a)

(b)

(c)

[8]

Figure 9: (a) Radar AFE box; (b) Antennas on tripods; (c) One-target experimental setup.

Available: http://www.sandia.gov/RADAR/minisar.html Available: http://focus.ti.com/lit/an/slla138/slla138.pdf

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