Staggered-PRT Sequences for Doppler Weather Radars. Part I: Spectral Analysis Using the Autocorrelation Spectral Density Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology

The autocorrelation spectral density (ASD) was introduced as a generalization of the classical periodogram-based power spectral density (PSD) and as an alternative tool for spectral analysis of uniformly sampled weather radar signals. In this paper, the ASD is applied to staggered pulse repetition time (PRT) sequences and is related to both the PSD and the ASD of the underlying uniform-PRT sequence. An unbiased autocorrelation estimator based on the ASD is introduced for use with staggered-PRT sequences when spectral processing is required. Finally, the strengths and limitations of the ASD for spectral analysis of staggered-PRT sequences are illustrated using simulated and real data. Grant no. NA11OAR4320072