Doppler Radar

From Josh Wurman

NCAR S-POL DOPPLER RADAR

Doppler Shift: A frequency shift that occurs in electromagnetic

waves due to the motion of scatterers toward or away from the
observer.

Analogy: The Doppler shift for sound waves is the frequency shift that occurs as race
cars approach and then recede from a stationary observer

Doppler radar: A radar that can determine the frequency

shift through measurement of the phase change that occurs
in electromagnetic waves during a series of pulses.

The electric field of a transmitted wave

Et t E0 cos2f t t 0

The returned electric field at some later

time back at the radar

Et t E1 cos2f t t t 1

The time it took to travel

Substituting:

2r
t
c

2r
Et t E1 cos 2f t t 1
c

The received frequency can be determined by taking the time derivative if the
quantity in parentheses and dividing by 2

fr

2 f dr
2f v
1 d
2r
2f t t 1 f t t
ft t r ft f d
2 dt
c
c dt
c

Sign conventions
The Doppler frequency is negative (lower frequency,
red shift) for objects receding from the radar
The Doppler frequency is positive (higher frequency,
blue shift) for objects approaching the radar
These color shift conventions are typically also used on radar
displays of Doppler velocity

Red: Receding from radar

Blue: Toward radar

Note that Doppler radars are only sensitive to the radial motion of objects

Air motion is a three dimensional vector: A Doppler radar can only measure one
of these three components the motion along the beam toward or away from the radar

Magnitude of the Doppler Shift

Transmitted Frequency

Radial velocity

X band

C band

S band

9.37 GHz

5.62 GHz

3.0 GHz

1 m/s

62.5 Hz

37.5 Hz

20.0 Hz

10 m/s

625 Hz

375 Hz

200 Hz

50 m/s

3125 Hz

1876 Hz

1000 Hz

These frequency shifts are very small: for this reason, Doppler
radars must employ very stable transmitters and receivers

RECALL THE BLOCK DIAGRAM OF A DOPPLER RADAR AND THE

PHASE DETECTOR

A0 A1

cos(d t )
2
A0 A1

sin(d t )
2

Amplitude determination:
Phase determination:

A0 A1
I 2 Q2
2
Q

d tan 1

Why is emphasis placed on phase determination instead of

determination of the Doppler frequency?
Typical period of Doppler frequency

Typical pulse duration

fd

= 0.3 to 50 milliseconds

= 1 microsecond

Only a very small fraction of a complete Doppler frequency cycle is contained within a pulse

Alternate approach: one samples the Doppler-shifted echo

with a train of pulses and tries to reconstruct, or estimate,
the Doppler frequency from the phase change that occurs
between pulses.

We can understand how the phase shift can be related to the radial
velocity by considering a single target moving radially.

Distance target moves radially in one pulse period Tr

The corresponding phase shift of a wave between two
Consecutive pulses (twice (out and back) the fraction
of a wavelength traversed between two consecutive
pulses)

Solving for the radial velocity

d Tr vr
2 1 2Tr vr

2 1
vr

2Tr 2

(1)

In practice, the pulse volume contains billions of targets moving at

different radial speeds and an average phase shift must be
determined from a train of pulses

Illustration of the reconstruction of the Doppler

frequency from sampled phase values

Dots correspond to the measured samples of phase

PROBLEM

More than one Doppler frequency (radial velocity) will always

exist that can fit a finite sample of phase values.
The radial velocity determined from the sampled
phase values is not unique

What is the maximum radial velocity possible before

ambiguity in the measurement of velocity occurs?
We need at least two measurements per wavelength to determine a frequency
The phase change between pulses must therefore be less than half a wavelength

vr

2Tr 2

vr

4vr Tr

2Tr

F
4

From (1)

vmax

vmax is called the Nyquist velocity and represents the maximum (or
minimum) radial velocity a Doppler radar can measure unambiguously true
velocities larger or smaller than this value will be folded back into the
unambiguous range

EXAMPLE VALUES OF THE MAXIMUM

UNAMBIGUOUS DOPPLER VELOCITY
Radar PRF (s-1)

Wavelength
cm

200

500

1000

2000

1.5

3.75

7.5

15

2.5

6.25

12.5

25

10

5.0

12.5

25.0

50

Table shows that Doppler radars capable of measuring a

large range of velocities unambiguously have long
wavelength and operate at high PRF

Folded velocities

Can you find the folded velocities in this image?

Folded velocities in an RHI

Velocities after unfolding

http://apollo.lsc.vsc.edu/classes/remote/graphics/airborne_radar_images/newcastle_folded.gif

But recall that for a large unambiguous RANGE

Doppler radars must operate at a low PRF

c
rmax
2F
vmax

F
4

THE DOPPLER DILEMA: A GOOD CHOICE OF PRF TO ACHIEVE A

LARGE UNAMBIGUOUS RANGE WILL BE A POOR CHOICE TO
ACHIEVE A LARGE UNAMBIGUOUS VELOCITY

c
rmaxvmax
8

The Doppler Dilema

Ways to circumvent the ambiguity dilema

1. Bursts of pulses at alternating low and high pulse repetition frequencies

Measure reflectivity

Measure velocity

Low PRF used to measure to long range, high PRF to measure velocity

2. Use slightly different PRFs in alternating sequence

f d

Vr

For 1st PRF

Vr

For 2nd PRF

f d
2

2nvmax

2nvmax

Solve simultaneously

f d f d

nvmax
nvmax

f d f d nF nF
Example: = 5.33 cm, F = 900

s-1,

F = 1200

s-1

vmax

F
4

12 ms 1

vmax

MEASURE fd = -150 hz, fd = 450 hz

300 1200 n 900 n

n n 1

Data is folded once

F
4

16 ms 1

Real characteristics of a returned signal from a distributed target

Velocity of individual targets in contributing volume vary due to:
1) Wind shear (particularly in the vertical)

2) Turbulence

3) Differential fall velocity (particularly at high elevation angles)

4) Antenna rotation

5) Variation in refraction of microwave wavefronts

NET RESULT: A series of pulses will measure a

spectrum of velocities (Doppler frequencies)
Power per unit velocity interval (db)

The moments, or integral properties, of the Doppler Spectrum

Pr S f d df

Average returned power

vr

S v dv
r

vmax

vm ax

vm ax

vSv dv
r

Mean radial velocity

vmax

vm ax
vm ax

S v dv

vSv dv
r

vm ax

Pr

vm ax
vm ax

v v S v dv

vm ax

Spectral width

2
v

vm ax

vm ax

S v dv
r

vm ax

v v S v dv
2

vm ax

Pr

Example of Doppler spectra

As a function of altitude
measured in a winter
snowband. These spectra
were measured with a
vertically pointing Doppler
profiler with a rather wide (9
degree) beamwidth

Melting level

Note ground clutter

The Doppler spectrum represents the echo from a single contributing region
Mean Doppler frequency (or velocity)

Spectral width

Related to the reflectivity weighted mean

radial motion of the particles

Related to the relative particle motions

RECALL: Fluctuations in mean power from pulse to pulse occur due

to interference effects as the returned EM waves superimpose upon
one another.

Fluctuations are due to the relative motion of the particles between

pulses and therefore to the spectral width

Effects of relative particle motion:

Consider two particles in a pulse volume
Return from 1:
Return from 2:

E1 t E1 cos D1 t 1
E2 t E2 cos D 2 t 2

Where:

2f t

D1, 2

4vr1, 2

With a bit of trigonometry.

E1 t E2 t E1 cos cosD1t sin sin D1t

E2 cos cosD1t sin sin D1t

Where: t 1

t 2

Total Echo power proportional to sum of two fields squared

2

E1
E2
Pr

E1 E2 cos D1 D 2
2
2
Constant term

Term which depends on particles relative velocities and wavelength

For a large ensemble of particles

2

Ei
Pr

2
i
i

E E cos
1

Di

Dj

To determine the echo power, one must average over a

large enough independent samples that the second term
averages to zero
HOWEVER!!

To determine the Doppler frequency (and velocity) from

consecutive measurements of echo phase, the samples must
be DEPENDENT (more frequent) than those required to
obtain the desired resolution in reflectivity

Determining the Doppler Spectrum

1. Doppler spectrum is measured at a particular range gate (e.g. at r

ct
)
2

2. Must process a time series of discrete samples of echo Er(t) at intervals

of the pulse period Tr
3. Analyze the sampled signal using (fast) Fourier Transform methods:

1
E (mTr )
M

M 1

F kf0 cos2kf0 mTr

m 0

M = # of samples
f0 = frequency resolution

M 1

F (kf0 ) Er mTr cos2kf0 mTr

m 0

4. Frequency components (radial velocities) occur at discrete intervals, with M

intervals separated by intervals of 1/MTr = fD

Discrete Doppler spectra

computed for a point
target, with M = 8. Dots
represent the discrete
frequency components of
the spectra.

Point target, M = 8
f D = 2 f0

If Doppler frequency is not an

integral multiple of the
frequency resolution (normally
not the case), the discrete
Fourier transform will smear
power into all of the frequencies
across the spectrum.

Point target, M = 8
fD = 2.5 f0
Signal appear in all M lines
of the spectrum

With a distributed target, which has a spectrum of Doppler frequencies, the

discrete Fourier transform will always produce power in all frequencies.
The power will be relatively uniform at frequencies not associated with the true
Doppler frequencies, and peak across the range of true Doppler frequencies.

Noise

Signal

Noise

In most applications (such as the operational NEXRADs), the Doppler

spectra are not needed.
Recording the entire Doppler spectra at each range gate takes an
enormous amount of data storage capability, quickly exceeding the
capacity of current electronic storage devices.
What are needed are the moments of the spectra the average
returned power, the mean Doppler velocity, and the spectral width

How can the moments be obtained from the series of discrete samples?
1. Record time series at each range gate and Fourier analyze Doppler
Spectra. Calculate the moments. Discard Spectral data.
(Computationally inefficient, given that these calculations must be
done for every range gate on every beam!
or
2. Calculate moments as the time series is recorded using the
Autocorrelation function (see below), and discard data continuously
following the calculation (little data storage required and
computationally efficient)

Problems complicating process:

1. Noise
Tends to bias Vr to 0
and spectral width to vmax/3

2. Folding

3. Clutter

RECALL THE PHASE

DETECTOR IN A
DOPPLER RADAR
SYSTEM

A0 A1

cos(d t )
2
A0 A1

sin(d t )
2

Amplitude determination:
Phase determination:

A0 A1
I 2 Q2
2
Q

d tan 1

Sample of I/Q channel voltage at time 1:

A0 A1
R1
expiDt 1
2
Sample of I/Q channel voltage at time 2:

A0 A2
R2
expiDt 2
2
Autocorrelation function:

A02 A1 A2
R1 R
exp i 2 1
4
*
2

1
C
M

R R
n 1

*
n 1

Representation of
I/Q signal on a phase
Diagram in complex
space

d
Amplitude
A0 A1
2

A0 A1
2

Graphical depiction of how average amplitude (returned power)

And phase (radial velocity) are recovered from autocorrelation function
A02 A4 A5
4
A02 A3 A4
4
A02 A2 A3
4
2
0

A A1 A2
4

54

43

32

21

The spectral width can also be recovered from autocorrelation function