Analysis of Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) Radar Signals Using Cyclostationary Processing

LPI radar is a class of radar systems that possess certain performance characteristics that make them nearly undetectable by today's digital intercept receivers, This presents a significant tactical problem in the battle space To detect these types of radar, new digital receivers that use sophisticated signal processing techniques are required This thesis investigates the use of cyclostationary processing to extract the modulation parameters from a variety of continuous-wave (CW) low-probability-of- intercept (LPI) radar waveforms, The cyclostationary detection techniques described exploit the fact that digital signals vary in time with single or multiple periodicities, because they have spectral correlation, namely, non-zero correlation between certain frequency components, at certain frequency shifts, The use of cyclostationary signal processing in a non-cooperative intercept receiver can help identify the particular emitter and can help develop electronic attacks, LPI CW waveforms examined include Frank codes, polyphase codes (Pt through P4), Frequency Modulated CW (FMCW), Costas frequencies as well as several frequency-shift- keying/phase-shift-keying (FSK/PSK) waveforms It is shown that for signal-to- noise ratios of OdB and -6 dB, the cyclostationary signal processing can extract the modulation parameters necessary in order to distinguish among the various types of LPI modulations.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Analysis of Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) Radar Signals Using Cyclostationary Processing', published 2002 under ISBN 9781423507642 and ISBN 1423507649.