Dual-Frequency, Dual-Mode Reconfigurable Digital Atmospheric Radar Receiver Design

Abstract

A new dual-frequency, dual-mode reconfigurable digital receiver based on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) dynamic reconfiguration is proposed, which is based on a common hardware platform of high-bandwidth RF front-end, high-speed data acquisition, and real-time signal processing. The receiver adopts the design of dynamically reconfigurable down-conversion, filter extraction, and matched filtering in the digital domain. In this study, we completed the design and development of the digital receiver, experimental platform construction, and field detection test with hardware and software cooperation. The experimental results show that the receiver achieves full digital reception and signal processing for 53.8 MHz stratosphere–troposphere (ST) detection and 35.0 MHz meteor detection and successfully acquired the number of meteors versus time, the meteor trail, and low-altitude atmospheric radial winds. This dual-frequency, dual-mode reconfigurable digital receiver can be applied to new-generation multifunction integrated radar systems such as dual-frequency ST/meteor radars.