Facilities & Experimental Infrastructure
The Radar and Navigation Group operates a dedicated experimental infrastructure supporting research, development and validation of radar, surveillance, navigation and localization systems.
The laboratory facilities combine RF signal acquisition, GNSS reference systems, transponder data recording, software-defined radio platforms and simulation and processing infrastructure, enabling experiments ranging from low-level signal analysis to complete system-level performance assessment.
Transponder Data Recorder
The laboratory is equipped with a dedicated Transponder Data Recorder for the acquisition and analysis of aircraft transponder signals.
The system supports experimental activities involving Mode-S, ADS-B and secondary surveillance signals, providing recorded data for the development and validation of signal processing, decoding, identification and localization algorithms.
The recorded datasets can be used both for offline algorithm development and for the experimental validation of surveillance and multilateration techniques.
NI PXIe Multi-Channel Digitizer
The laboratory is equipped with an NI PXIe multi-channel digitizer for synchronized high-speed signal acquisition.
The system provides four acquisition channels and is used for experimental activities involving:
- RF and IF signal acquisition;
- signal processing and detection;
- time-of-arrival and time-difference-of-arrival estimation;
- multilateration and localization;
- interference and jamming analysis;
- synchronization and timing experiments;
- radar and navigation signal characterization.
The multi-channel architecture is particularly suited to experiments requiring precise comparison and synchronization of signals acquired through different channels.
GNSS Reference Station
The laboratory also operates a GNSS reference station, originally developed within the GTR project.
The reference station provides high-quality GNSS measurements and positioning information that can be used as an independent reference for the validation of navigation and localization algorithms.
It supports experimental activities involving GNSS performance assessment, positioning accuracy, integrity monitoring, signal analysis and comparison with alternative localization techniques.
Simulation and Processing Infrastructure
Dedicated PC workstations are available for numerical simulation, algorithm development and large-scale data processing.
The simulation infrastructure supports the development of models and end-to-end simulations for radar, surveillance and navigation systems, including:
- sensor and signal models;
- trajectory and orbital dynamics;
- measurement generation;
- localization and navigation algorithms;
- Kalman filtering and estimation;
- Monte Carlo performance analysis;
- integrity and accuracy assessment.
The computing infrastructure is also used to process experimental datasets acquired from the laboratory instrumentation and to compare experimental results with theoretical and simulated performance.
NI USRP Software Defined Radio
The laboratory includes NI USRP Software Defined Radio (SDR) platforms for flexible RF signal generation and acquisition.
The USRP infrastructure enables the implementation of software-defined receivers and transmitters, allowing researchers to develop and test signal-processing algorithms under controlled experimental conditions.
Applications include GNSS and communication signal analysis, interference and jamming experiments, synchronization, signal detection and characterization, and the prototyping of new RF sensing and localization techniques.
Integrated Experimental Capability
The combination of these facilities provides RadarLab with an integrated environment in which theoretical models, simulations and experimental measurements can be developed and validated within the same research framework.
This capability supports the Group’s research activities in radar, air traffic surveillance, multilateration, GNSS, resilient navigation, RF signal processing and space-based navigation.
The laboratory infrastructure is continuously extended and adapted to support new research activities and experimental campaigns.