Development of a 220-GHz experimental radar

For decades radars operating in the millimetre wave region were confined to Ka- and W-band. The available technology now allows also to expand radar use to the 220-GHz region. Although atmospheric restrictions impose problems to longer range applications, the ease of broadband operation makes this frequency region attractive. For the assessment of this frequency band, the radar characteristics of targets of interest has to be known to develop appropriate signal processing algorithms. An experimental radar has been designed and built using the most advanced solid state technology available in this frequency region. The paper describes the effort towards this aim and gives recent results achieved with the KOBRA-220 experimental radar.