Near-Field Compensation for Coherent Radar Networks

With radar networks, the resolution of critical radar parameters such as Doppler and angle can be improved compared to a single radar sensor. As the network’s aperture is considerably larger than that of a single radar, a much higher angular resolution is achieved. However, with a large aperture, range-dependent phase deviations, that is, near-field effects, occur and affect the angle estimation. In this work, these near-field effects are evaluated exemplarily for a coherent network. Furthermore, a new strategy to compensate for those network near-field effects is proposed and demonstrated based on measurements. The benefits of the near-field compensation are emphasized by comparing the network’s angle-estimation capabilities with and without compensated near-field effects.