RF, Radar

Well, that is a rather open question, rather like " how long is a piece of string" ?

So

What sort of RADAR are you intending to make?

First gather the specs, in the sense of maximum range, minimum detectable target, range resolution, do you need Doppler separation for anti clutter ?

That will help you decide the basic architecture, bistatic or monostatic, then the transmitted signal typically pulse, FMCW or pseudo random, or something exotic, like harmonic or intermodulation, or it may even be passive and rely on someone else's transmission if there is something suitable..

Then there is the antenna type, directivity and gain, and how it is to be swept, if indeed it is ?

Are there licencing  limits to what frequencies and power levels you can use, or countermeasures to be overcome., such as what is your anti-jam spec if any?

Once you can answer all of these pre-cursor questions,  then I can probably tell you if your chosen SDR is likely good enough, but by then I suspect you can do that without me !

Regards 

Mike.

Hi Zvidzayi,

I had an SDR for a while but never got to play with it (it was conference give away, possibly even an ADLM). Sounds an interesting challenge.

The biggest problem is deciding what is meant by "Coherence", in context.

In general, it usually implies a slightly better level of stability of the 'reference frequencies' that is provided by normal lowish cost signal sources, or the extra ability to compare to signals (e.g. Tx & Rx signals) to see their frequency or phase differences to a high precision. Often there is some other feature that the signals are being compare to (e.g. Doppler frequencies depend on various velocities of source and target).

Have you decided on a particular project that would allow the style and level of "coherence" to be identified?

what is the period of time over which you require the 'stability' and is it phase or frequency variations that are a worry?

Have you tried feeding one unit from the other and seeing how well they agree on the cross reading of the set-up and measurement of the same signal? If they measure each other with a level of consistency and accuracy to meet the project needs then you could be golden (happy days)!