Pulse versus stepped frequency continuous wave modulation for ground penetrating radar

There has often been debate concerning the relative merits of pulsed ("carrier-less") and stepped frequency continuous wave (SFCW) radars used in ground penetrating radar (GPR) applications. It is sometimes claimed that SFCW has poor time sidelobe performance. In this paper we tease out the definition of resolution and bandwidth, and show that both systems have equivalent resolution and time sidelobe performance if the spectral shapes are properly defined.