Modern Software Defined Radar (SDR) Technology and Its Trends

Software defined radar (SDR) is a multi-purpose radar system where most of the hardware processing is performed by software. This paper introduces a concept and technology trends of software defined radar, and addresses the advantages and limitations of the current SDR radar systems. For the advanced SDR concept, the KAU SDR Model (KSM) is presented for the multimode and multiband radar system operating in S-, X-, and K-bands. This SDR consists of a replaceable multiband antenna and RF hardware, common digital processor module with multimode, and open software platform based on MATLAB and Lab VIEW. The new concept of the SDR radar can be useful in various applications of the education, traffic monitoring and safety, security, and surveillance depending on the various radar environments.