A Software Tool for Processing the Displacement Time Series Extracted from Raw Radar Data

Abstract

The application of high-resolution radar waveform and interferometric principles recently led to the development of a microwave interferometer, suitable to simultaneously measuring the (static or dynamic) deflection of several points on a large structure. From the technical standpoint, the sensor is a Stepped Frequency Continuous Wave (SF-CW), coherent radar, operating in the Ku frequency band.
\nIn the paper, the main procedures adopted to extract the deflection time series from raw radar data and to assess the quality of data are addressed, and the MATLAB toolbox developed is described. Subsequently, other functions implemented in the software tool (e.g. evaluation of the spectral matrix of the deflection time-histories, identification of natural frequencies and operational mode shapes evaluation) are described and the application to data recorded on full-scale bridges is exemplified.