Phase Coding for Range Ambiguity Mitigation in Dual-Polarized Doppler Weather Radars

Abstract

This paper evaluates the retrieval of polarimetric variables when phase-coded waveforms are employed to suppress range overlaid echoes. A phase-coded waveform tags transmitted pulses with a phase code and then decodes the received signal to separate the overlaid echoes. Two methods suggested for separating overlaid echoes use random and systematic phase-coding techniques. In this paper, random phase and systematic phase-coded waveforms are evaluated for dual-polarized operation. The random phased-coded and systematic phase-coded waveforms are known to provide fairly good estimates of the Doppler spectral moments. This paper presents results at S band to quantify the performance of phase-coded waveform in retrieving polarimetric variables. It is shown that the polarimetric variables for both strong and weak trip echoes are estimated with acceptable accuracy.