Recently proposed methods for generation of entangled (quantum correlated) signals directly in microwave frequency range give more chances for design of QR for long-range applications. In such applications, the range resolution capability is of a great importance. Using analogy of signal generation and processing in Noise Radar and Quantum Radar we describe a novel concept for Stepped-Frequency QR (SF-QR) design which enables preserving quantum properties of probing signals and provide range resolution capability in SF-QR.
Recently proposed methods for generation of entangled (quantum correlated) signals directly in microwave frequency range give more chances for design of QR for long-range applications. In such applications, the range resolution capability is of a great importance. Using analogy of signal generation and processing in Noise Radar and Quantum Radar we describe a novel concept for Stepped-Frequency QR (SF-QR) design which enables preserving quantum properties of probing signals and provide range resolution capability in SF-QR.
Comparative analysis of Noise Radar (NR) and Quantum Radar (QR) concepts are presented in the paper. Recently proposed methods for generation of quantum correlated signals directly in microwave frequency range give more chances for design of QR for long-range applications. In many applications, the range resolution capability is of a great importance. Novel concept of Stepped-Frequency Quantum Radar (SF-QR) for design of QR with range resolution capability is suggested. FPGA based digital generation of entangled signals is discussed as well.
Preliminary results of the comparative analysis of quantum radar (QR) based upon quantum entanglement phenomenon and noise radar (NR) based upon classical coherence and correlation processing of random signals are presented in this article. Common and distinguishing features of NR and QR are briefly discussed. A novel concept of a stepped-frequency quantum radar (SF-QR) for design of QR with range resolution capability is suggested. Field programmable gate array based digital generation of entangled signals is proposed as well.
This work, written for engineers or managers with no special knowledge of quantum mechanics, nor deep experience in radar, aims to help the scientific, industrial, and governmental community to better understand the basic limitations of proposed microwave quantum radar (QR) technologies and systems. Detection and ranging capabilities for QR are critically discussed and a comparison with its closest classical radar (CR), i.e., the noise radar (NR), is presented. In particular, it is investigated whether a future fielded and operating QR system might really outperform an “equivalent” classical radar, or not. The main result of this work, coherently with the recent literature, is that the maximum range of a QR for typical aircraft targets is intrinsically limited to less than one km, and in most cases to some tens of meters. Detailed computations show that the detection performance of all the proposed QR types are orders of magnitude below the ones of any much simpler and cheaper equivalent “classical” radar set, in particular of the noise radar type. These limitations do not apply to very-short-range microwave applications, such as microwave tomography and radar monitoring of heart and breathing activity of people (where other figures, such as cost, size, weight, and power, shall be taken into account). Moreover, quantum sensing at much higher frequencies (optical and beyond) is not considered here.
Preliminary results of the comparative analysis of Quantum Radar (QR) based upon quantum entanglement phenomenon and Noise Radar (NR) based upon classical coherence notion and correlation processing of random signals are presented in the paper. It has been shown that the basic idea of entangled multi-photon QR for simultaneous implementing of high penetrating ability of the entangled photons and high spatial resolution performance does not work because of decay of entangled state of the transmitted photons when they hits a wall, for example. QR operation abilities may be described in terms of classical physics. In addition, the multi-photon QR has been modeled by means of classically phase locked multi-frequency signals (regular and chaotic). Results of computer simulation of basic properties for such radar are presented.
Many quantum radars currently studied in the literature use a phenomenon called entanglement to address the problem of distinguishing signal from noise, which is one of the most important problems faced by any radar. Until recently, entanglement-based quantum radars at radio frequencies existed only in theory; their practicality was very much in doubt. The situation has changed with a recent experimental implementation of all the necessary components of a quantum two-mode squeezing (QTMS) radar, which operates at microwave frequencies and can be described as a quantum range finder. In this article, we lay out the exact problem solved by this prototype, namely quantum noise, and explain how entanglement can overcome the existence of this noise. By analyzing the QTMS radar prototype, we point out a technological route to an entanglement-based quantum radar that can, in principle, perform all tasks that radars can and must do, such as array processing, clutter suppression, and image processing (including synthetic aperture radar and inverse synthetic aperture radar).
Quantum radar is an emerging field that shows a lot of promise in providing significantly improved resolution compared to its classical radar counterpart. The key to this kind of resolution lies in the correlations created from the entanglement of the photons being used. Currently, the technology available only supports quantum radar implementation and validation in the optical regime, as opposed to the microwave regime, because microwave photons have very low energy compared to optical photons. Furthermore, there currently do not exist practical single photon detectors and generators in the microwave spectrum. Viable applications in the optical regime include deep sea target detection and high resolution detection in space. In this paper, we propose a conceptual architecture of a quantum radar which uses entangled optical photons based on Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC) methods. After the entangled photons are created and emerge from the crystal, the idler photon is detected very shortly thereafter. At the same time, the signal photon is sent out towards the target and upon its reflection will impinge on the detector of the radar. From these two measurements, correlation data processing is done to obtain the distance of the target away from the radar. Various simulations are then shown to display the resolution that is possible.