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RADAR Introduction

RAdio Detection And Ranging Part 1 of 2

Applications: Detection and Ranging of ground, sea and air targets Air Traffic Control (ATC) Guidance Tracking Meteorological applications Collision avoidance Speed measurement Remote sensing Why use microwave frequencies? 1. Low absorption by the atmosphere see Figure 1

low attenuation below about 20 GHz, particularly below 10GHz resonant peaks due to oxygen and water molecular absorption at higher frequencies operate in 'windows' at about 35GHz, 94GHz etc much lower absorption by fog, rain, snow at microwave frequencies than at optical frequencies

Figure 1 Graph showing attemuation of a microwave signal through the atmosphere with varying conditions and frequencies 2. Antenna sizes angular resolution limited by beamwidth beamwidth determined by /D - D is antenna diameter - (radians) require D = 10 for 6 beamwidth suggests using high microwave frequencies to reduce antenna size, but a balance must be struck with the atmospheric attenuation

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Types of radar 1. Bistatic Monostatic separate transmit and receive antennas same antenna for transmit and receive

TX

RX

TX RX

Bistatic (i)

Bistatic (ii)

Monostatic

Figure 2 2. 3. 4. CW radar CW radar

Monostatic and bistatic radar transmits continuous wave (CW)

can detect objects, measures velocity from Doppler shift, but cannot measure range FM-CW radar frequency-modulated CW transmitted signal

detects, measures range and radial velocity Pulsed radar includes MTI (moving target indicator) and Pulsed Doppler

detects, measures range and velocity, but has blind speeds and ranges

can be bistatic or monostatic

TX

RX

TX RX

Bistatic (i)

Bistatic (ii)

Monostatic

Figure 3

Monostatic and bistatic CW radar

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transmitter and receiver both operate continuously - hence no range measurement. Difficult to avoid Tx to Rx feed-through, even with separate antennas measure radial velocity of target from Doppler shift

fo

Vr

TX

2.vr fo + fo c
Doppler shift

Fig. 4. Doppler frequency shift for reflected signal Mix Tx and Rx signals to give difference frequency - the Doppler frequency

2v 2v fD = f0 + f0 f0 = f0 c c
Ships radial velocity in range 0 to 30 knots typically at an operating frequency of 2GHz, i.e. 0 to 15ms-1

f D is in the range 0 to 200Hz

Using homodyne detection, where the Rx and Tx signals are mixed directly to give the Doppler frequency problems arise due to flicker noise in the detectors and amplifiers because the noise power is proportional to 1/f and flicker noise is large at low frequencies such as 200Hz.

1/f
Flicker noise Power density

Noise power density is Area for given bandwidth and is greater at lower Frequencies.

B.W

Fig. 5. Flicker noise versus frequency

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A solution is to use heterodyne detection in which the Rx signal is mixed with a local oscillator (LO) with a frequency which differs from the Tx frequency by, for example, 30MHz. The received signal + LO generate an IF (intermediate frequency) output at 30 MHz which contains the same information - ie Doppler frequency shift - as the Rx signal. After amplification the Doppler frequency shift can be extracted by further mixing.
(fo+fD) RX (fo+fD)- fLO 30MHz

amplify without flicker noise

LO fLO
Velocity ambiguity with CW radar Velocity ambiguity is the inability to distinguish between approaching and receding targets. It arises because in a mixer with an LO frequency f 0 input signals with frequencies f 0 + f D and f 0 f D give the same IF frequency ie the same IF output is obtained for targets that are approaching or receding from the radar at the same radial speed. Velocity ambiguity can be removed by splitting the received signal into two equal components. A 90 phase change is applied to one of the components. After further mixing the relative phases of the two components gives the sign of the Doppler frequency. Thus approaching and receding targets are distinguished. A system that achieves the removal of velocity ambiguity is shown in Figure 6. The outputs are called the I (In phase) and Q (Quadrature phase) outputs. With With

f D +ve

Q output leads I by 90 Q output lags I by 90

approaching target receding target

f D -ve

FM-CW radar frequency modulate the CW signal to give range as well as velocity the frequency is swept repeatedly between

f 1 and f 2

the range is found from the frequency difference between the transmitted and the returned signal - see figure 7 for a stationary target if the target is moving there is an additional Doppler frequency shift. For an approaching target the frequency of the returned signal is increased. For m positive (m is the rate of change of frequency with time for the transmitted signal) the range frequency is decreased by the Doppler frequency, whereas for m negative the range frequency is increased by the Doppler frequency. Using both measurements both the range and radial velocity of the target can be obtained - see figure 8.

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System to remove Velocity Ambiguity with CW Radar TX fo CW Tx

fo

LO at IF

LO fIF (fd+fIF) <90 degrees

fd < 90 degrees Q

RX fo+fd

fo-fIF

Amplifier

90 degrees

3dB (Approachin g target) (fo-fd)-(fo-fIF) = fd+fIF fd+fIF fIF

fd < 0 degrees
(fd+fIF) < 0 degrees

With fd +ve (approaching target) Q output 90 degrees AHEAD of I output

With fd -ve (receding target) Q output 90 degrees BEHIND of I output

Figure 6

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FM-CW Radar Frequency-modulate CW signal to give range information. (1) Stationary target

Tx

Rx

F2

Frequency

f
m=

f T t

F1
2R C

time

Figure 7 Tx frequency increases with time

f f T = f1 + T t = f1 + m.t t
Rx signal lags Tx signal by time to target and back

TX

TR =

2R C

Mixing Rx and Tx frequencies gives difference frequency f

f =m 2R C

2R f = f R = m C

Range frequency

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(2) Moving target with FM-CW due to Doppler - additional frequency shift due to Doppler effect

Tx

Rx

F2

fD
Frequency

fD fr
Approaching target

F1

fr fD = fr

time

Figure 8 Approaching target : Rx signal frequency increased by fd

Therefore f (measured) = fR-fd ( for m positive ) = f+ For m negative f (measured) = fR+fd = fTherefore, fR = (f+ + f-) fd = (f- - f+) simultaneous equations

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ambiguity can arise between very close fast moving targets and slow moving distant targets. It may not be possible to decide whether the difference frequency is f R f D or f D f R.

Pulsed radar short pulses (pulse length 1s) of RF radiation are transmitted with relatively long intervals ( T(PRF)) ms) between them. PRF is the pulse repetition frequency

~ 1us
Echo E1

TX
T R = (2R)/C

T/R

T (PRF) ~ 10-3s

RX

Figure 9 Pulsed radar and radar pulses the time delay between the transmitted and reflected signal target

TR gives the range to the

TX RX

TR =

2R C

R=

1 CTR 2

Figure 10 Transmitted and reflected signals each time delay of 1s corresponds to an increase in range of 150m a T/R cell is connected between the transmitter and the receiver to protect the sensitive receiver from the high power pulses from the transmitter. This disables the receiver during pulse transmission

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the maximum unambiguous range of the radar occurs when TR = ranges the echo returns after the transmission of the next pulse.

T ( PRF ) . For longer

R (unambiguou s ) = cT (PRF ) 2=c 2PRF

the blind range of the radar occurs when the echo signal arrives back when the next pulse is being transmitted and the receiver is disabled - ie TR = T ( PRF ) . This is the same as the maximum unambiguous range. to avoid the blind range and to distinguish targets that are beyond the maximum unambiguous range a variable PRF should be used. If we combine the reflections from several pulses, targets with R < R(unambiguous) will all have the same time delay with respect to the transmitted signal, but those will appear to have a variable delay, because they actually originated from an earlier transmitted pulse.
T1 T2 T3 T
Will move if R > R (unambiguous)

E1

E2

E1

E2

Fixed for all transmission pulses if R < R (unambiguous)

combine

Figure 11 Use of variable PRF to distinguish targets beyond the unambiguous range the radar range resolution is the ability of the radar to distinguish two targets with similar ranges. The resolution is determined by the pulse duration . The smallest time interval that the radar can resolve is which gives a range resolution of c 2 . If = 1s the range resolution is 150m.
T1 T2

R = .CTR AR = .C(A.TR)

Figure 12 Radar resolution

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the angular resolution of the radar is determined by the beamwidth of the antenna, which is in turn set by the frequency of operation and the antenna diameter (radians) /D.

Blind speeds with pulsed radars If the frequency of the echo signal is measured the target radial velocity can be determined as well as its range. The sketches below show the time domain and the frequency domain forms of the transmitted pulses.

sin(x) sin x 2 = x

Time Domain

P(f)
Line spectrum

f 1 =

1 = PRF T(PRF )

PRF fo

Transmitted Waveforms

fo

fo

fo +

Frequency domain

Figure 13 Time and frequency domain forms of a radar pulse train In the frequency domain the pulse contains frequency components with spacing f 1 = ( PRF ) from the transmitted frequency f 0 . If the Doppler-shifted echo signal falls on one of these frequency components it cannot be distinguished, and so the radar is 'blind' to the corresponding radial velocities - ie to velocities that give f D = nf1 =n( PRF ) where n = 1, 2, 3, etc.

Blind speeds c.n(PRF) 2.v r f D = n(PRF) = fo ; v r (blind) = c 2 fo eg fo = 10GHz; PRF= 1KHz vr = 3x108 x n x 103 = 15n....15ms 1 ; 30ms 1 ; 45ms 1 10 2x10

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For a pulsed radar with a frequency of 10GHz which transmits pulses at millisecond intervals -1 -1 -1 -1 (PRF = 1kHz) the blind speeds are 15 ms , 30 ms , 45 ms etc. 15 ms is about 30mph, so in some applications there would be many blind speeds within the speed range of interest eg aircraft. To avoid problems due to blind speeds the radar must be operated so that they do not fall into the range of interest. This can be achieved by increasing the PRF. However, this reduces the unambiguous range and so a compromise must be reached. Example: Blind speeds less than 1500mph ( 670 ms ) are to be avoided. For a radar operating at 10GHz this corresponds to a Doppler shift, and hence a PRF of 45kHz. This PRF gives an unambiguous range of only 3.3km.
-1

The value of the Doppler frequency, and hence the PRF, could be reduced by operating the radar at a lower frequency -eg 2GHz -but this might mean using a larger antenna to give the same angular resolution. Two broad categories of pulsed radar are 1. MTI (Moving Target Indicator) radar distinguishes moving targets from the stationary background by Doppler shift. Only those echoes with a frequency shift are displayed. The reflections from the background are known as clutter. MTI uses a low PRF to avoid range ambiguity, and gives a large range the blind range is small because the receiver is only disabled for a small % of the time 'blind' to many speeds, starting from quite low speeds the low PRF reduces the number of hits per target as the radar beam is scanned. This reduces the radar sensitivity.

2. Pulse Doppler radar uses high PRF to avoid blind speeds short unambiguous range, more extended blind range more hits per target increases sensitivity

Note: Hits per target gives the number of pulses that hit the target as the radar beam is scanned. The signal at the receiver is averaged over several pulses to average out the effects of noise. The radar sensitivity increases with the number of hits per target. If a beam with width 2 is scanned at 36 per second a target will be in the beam for 1/18 seconds. With a PRF of 300Hz the number of hits per target will be 300/18 = 15.