Quick-start Red Pitaya radar

March 24, 2017

The coffee-can radar systems have the advantage of operating at a 13 cm wavelength, so antennas are small and quite directional, relevant for clutter reduction and high spatial resolution. Without external hardware, Red Pitaya output/input resides in the 0-50 MHz range. Build a radar in this range with nothing more than two Red Pitayas and some dipole antennas.

The radar topology is using frequency translation via the second Red Pitaya acting as a bent-pipe transponder. This is a high-tech, long-range version of harmonic radar.

1. build dipole antennas for each Red Pitaya
2. Configure Red Pitaya 2 for GNU Radio
3. Configure Red Pitaya 2 for transponder
4. Configure Red Pitaya 1 as radar, with TX and RX frequencies corresponding to transponder.

Strong (high SNR) return signals from the transponder are limited by the transmit power of the radar.