High-Precision Measurement of Ice-Shelf Thickness Using Frequency-Modulated Interrupted Continuous Wave Method and Vernier-like Process

Abstract

A radar system has been developed to predict global warming by measuring ice-shelf thicknesses. This system uses a frequencymodulated continuous-wave(FMCW) waveform and phase-sensitive method through the so-called Vernier-like process, which measures the target range by adding the fine range from the phase information to the rough range from the frequency. However, the continuous waves require a large dynamic range of the receiver because short-range and long-range reflection signals are received simultaneously. To improve this, we propose a frequency-modulated interrupted continuous wave(FMICW) method and demonstrate its performance through simulation. Although the proposed method reduces the signal-to-noise ratio(SNR) based on the same peak power, the gain can be adjusted according to the range, and the minimum detection range can be controlled.