FMCW waveforms for UHF/SHF wideband channel sounders

A comparison between PRBS and chirp sounders is presented. The advantages of the heterodyne detector of a chirp sounder are particularly emphasised. The various generation methods of the chirp waveform are discussed. The flexibility of the frequency synthesis method is demonstrated. A gate array architecture is described which can be used to programme frequency synthesizers for the generation of chirp pulses with high repetition rates.