Characterizations and Tests of Stepped-Frequency Continuous-Wave Radar Sensors

This chapter discusses the electrical tests and several sensing measurements of the developed microwave and millimeter-wave SFCW radar sensors described in Chap. 4. The electrical tests verify the electrical performances of these systems to make sure they possess the desired electrical characteristics as designed. These electrical tests, while do not directly show the actual performance of the sensors in practical sensing applications, are essential in system development and need to be conducted first. The sensing measurements of the millimeter-wave SFCW radar sensor described in this chapter include surface profiling, liquid-level measurement, and detection and location of buried objects. The sensing measurements for the microwave SFCW radar sensor are the measurements of pavement structures including an actual pavement in laboratory and actual roads. The measured sensing results show good agreement with the actual values, demonstrating the workability and usefulness of the developed sensors for various surface and subsurface sensing applications. Moreover, this chapter also describes of the procedures involved in the sensing measurements, which provide not only the operations of these sensors, but also their system evaluations for sensing applications.