Assessment of Signal-to-Clutter Ratio Improvement using TX Beamforming on Cascade FMCW Radar

The dynamic range of radar receiver chains is a critical concern in practical scenarios due to the significant variation in power levels between backscattered signals from desired targets and surrounding clutter. High Radar Cross Section (RCS) clutter echoes can easily overwhelm the receiver chain, particularly when the detection system is optimized for low RCS targets, such as UAVs or birds. This paper explores the potential enhancements offered by TX Digital Scanning Beamforming compared to conventional MIMO techniques. It introduces a straightforward model to predict these benefits, supported by an experimental validation using a Texas Instruments (TI) FMCW Cascade Radar platform operating in TX Beamforming mode, offering valuable insights into the achievable performance improvements.