High Resolution Spectral Analysis useful for the development of Radar Altimeter

Abstract: This paper presents a comparative study of high resolution spectral estimation methods applied to Radar Altimeter. Spectral estimation methods such as Yule-Walker, Burg, Covariance, modified Covariance, MUSIC, minimum norm, ESPRIT methods are briefly reviewed. Computer simulations have been made using a test signal with six frequencies in order to evaluate the probability of detection of each frequency. High resolution spectral estimates showed much more spectral details than the Fourier spectrum and also it exhibits consistent peak position when compared to the lower resolution technique.

Keywords: Radar altimeter, High resolution, spectral estimation, Yule-Walker, Burg, Covariance, Modified Covariance, MUSIC, minimum norm, ESPRIT