Radar system and associated apparatus and methods

A radar system for providing surveillance, the radar system comprising:

• at least one radar transmitter and at least one radar receiver arranged to provide a volume of radar coverage,
• wherein the at least one radar transmitter is configured to transmit a sequence of pulses to illuminate the volume of radar coverage,
• wherein the at least one radar receiver is configured to receive corresponding return signals reflected from within each resolution cell of one or more resolution cells within the volume of radar coverage, and
• wherein the return signals for each resolution cell are received in a series of coherent processing intervals;
• and
• means for processing the return signals, wherein the means for processing the return signals is configured to:
• extract characteristics from each return signal of a plurality of return signals received in each resolution cell in each coherent processing interval of a plurality of coherent processing intervals, the extracted characteristics comprising a set of frequencies and/or a set of times, each frequency and/or time having a respective extracted amplitude within a corresponding amplitude range;
• determine a corresponding amplitude index for the amplitude range within which the extracted amplitude falls;
• for each extracted amplitude:
• respectively store, in a memory location addressable via the corresponding amplitude index, a set of return signal related data comprising information for identifying the corresponding frequency and/or time, and an associated identifier for uniquely identifying, in combination with the amplitude index, that set of return signal related data;
• and
• extract a further characteristic including at least one of a position, heading, speed, acceleration, altitude, scattering cross-section, and/or classification of an object within the volume of radar coverage based on the stored set of return signal related data.