Hardware design for modern radar processing

Programmability and flexibility are often emphasised in today's hardware design for modern radar processing, but in many radar applications this does not lead to the desired optimum hardware solution, especially if application-specific requirements, such as limited processor size and power consumption combined with extremely high throughputs, play a key role. Many parts of a radar processing system can be optimised if dedicated hardware solutions are permitted for the so-called 'bulk-processing', which requires a low degree of flexibility and has a high algorithmic regularity. In this paper some arguments are given in favour of combined programmable/dedicated-hardware solutions for radar processing applications, supported by illustrative application and design examples.