Graduate Exam Abstract

Abstract: Weather radar is an important tool for providing situational awareness and ensuring safe operation of aircraft. Large, commercial aircraft are typically equipped with onboard weather radar
systems which allow pilots to detect and avoid hazardous weather conditions even when flying in
low visibility. Small general aviation aircraft, however, often lack such systems and are reliant on
relayed information from ground based radar systems which can often be delayed or low resolu-tion. To this end, low-power, small form-factor radar systems are needed to improve situational
awareness for general aviation pilots. This thesis implements a high-fidelity simulation for such a
system. The simulated system utilizes frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) signals to
detect and locate weather targets. The simulation includes high-fidelity models for up and down
conversion components, beam steering components, phased array antennas, and weather target
models. The models are implemented and tested using a variety of FMCW signals (linear, non-
linear, and phase coded) and verified against predicted values from signal processing theory, radar
theory, and component data sheets. Simulation data in both the time and frequency domains is
provided to demonstrate the performance and accuracy of the models. Furthermore, this thesis explores future work and development which can be done to produce a fully operational radar system
based on the simulation model which could be deployed on general aviation aircraft.

Adviser: Dr. V Chandrasekar
Co-Adviser: N/A
Non-ECE Member: Dr. Margaret Cheney, Dept. of Mathematics
Member 3: Dr. Ryan Gooch, Dept. of ECE
Addional Members: N/A

Publications:
N/A

Program of Study:
ECE612
ECE611
ECE513
ECE512
ECE556
ECE516
ECE549
N/A