Analysis and simulation of the effect of phase noise in the output image of the airborne ground penetrating radar system

Advancements in unmanned aerial vehicle technology have increased its use across a wide range of fields. One of the advantages of drones is their ability to perform inspections and remote measurements by placing various types of sensors on them. One of the key indicators ensuring target detection in radars and spectral integrity in communication systems is phase noise. Phase noise refers to the instability of frequency and phase of a signal source, oscillator, or clock, which is an undesirable and unavoidable factor that negatively impacts the performance of radar systems. The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of phase noise in airborne ground-penetrating radar systems. To this end, a continuous wave radar system with frequency modulation is considered for probing a three-layered region of the ground. The three-layer ground model is simulated in the gprMax software, and ultimately, a two-dimensional image is extracted. The operating frequency range of the radar system is considered from 100 MHz to 3 GHz. In order to examine the effect of phase noise on this two-dimensional image, phase noise is added to the local oscillator signal at the receiver. The results indicate that in the presence of phase noise, the targets and the connection points of the layers in the output image become ambiguous and blurred, making them difficult to distinguish accurately.