Small boat detection using OFDM radar

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) based radar systems have recently attracted a lot of research interest. However, demonstration of OFDM radar's capability for target detection using real data is not reported in the open literature. In this work, we demonstrate a method to employ OFDM radar for small boat detection. For this objective, we propose a technique to generate radar return for OFDM waveform using collected radar return data when stepped frequency waveform is transmitted. We, then, derive system model for the estimated radar return data specific to OFDMwaveform. Further, a detection test is proposed for the derived signal model and surveillance environment. Close match between the derived analytical expressions and simulation results validates the proposed detector's performance.