Radar System Design

Chapter 7
Radar Receiver

Radar System Design

Receiver Types

•Superregenerative receiver
- A single tube is used for the RF amplifier in RX and TX sources.
- Advantages: Simplicity and low cost
- Disadvantages: gain instability, poor selectivity, high receiver noise level
•Crystal Video Receiver
- Advantages: Simplicity and low cost
- Disadvantages: Poor sensitivity (No RF amplifier
filter effect), Poor selectivity, poor pulse shape of video
amplifier
- 30 ~ 40dB loss than those achievable in
Superheterodyne receivers.
•TRF Receiver
- Add a RF amplifier prior to the detector in the
Crystal Video Receiver
- Improve sensitivity (reduce noise produced by the detector)
and selectivity (RF amp. filtering), Reduce the video gain
•Superheterodyne Receiver

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 1 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Superheterodyne Receiver
•The input at RF is down converted to an
intermediate frequency (IF).
not used due to unavailability
•Advantages: Excellent sensitivity, much of low-noise amplifiers and
excellent of RF mixers
lower conversion loss in detection.
•Noncoherent:
•IF amplifier is more effective and stable
than RF amplifier
•IF signal simplified filtering (narrow filter)
 improve selectivity
•LO OSC can be changed to track the TX •Low IF: lower cost
protect the sensitive
frequency  IF and filtering mixer from saturation
or burned •High IF: Wideband

•Duplexer: switches the common antenna

between TX and RX (TR switch).
•Input of RX to output of processor can
vary from 100 to 200dB
•STC (sensitivity time control): gain as a
function of time (range)
•AGC (automatic gain control): may

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 2 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Performance Considerations

• Noise Characteristics
• Noise Figure
• Radar Receiver Noise Figure
• Dynamic Range
- Bandwidth

• IF selection and Filtering

Dynamic Range

Noise

Radar receiver
noise figure
BW BW

IF IF RF
Filter Amp Amp

IF selection
filtering

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 3 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Considerations on Noise
•Usually the first characteristics specified for a radar receiver
•The understanding of the receiver noise as the ultimate limitation on radar range performance is
important.
•The ability to detect received radar echoes is ultimately limited by thermal noise, even if receiver
adds no additional noise

•The lowest-noise receiver

may need great a sacrifice in
system performance and
cost
•It is seldom a dominant factor
because the noise
contribution has been
reduced sufficiently.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 4 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Thermal Noise Characteristics

•The average thermal noise input to the
Receiver
receiver can be determined as N = kTB , or Device
where k = 1.38 10 –23 
kw .
Gain
T = Noise Temperature of input Si So
impedance T o = 290 k : standard noise Ni Noise No
temp. B : Bandwidth Ti GF 
kT i B 
Noise Factor = F
•We generally defined Noise Factor
Si  Ni 1N
- = --- -----o- ,
F = --------------- So 
Si = G
So  No G Ni
Receiver
•Noise Figure = NF = 10Log 
F (dB) or Device
Si So
•Output noise N o = GFN i = GF 
kT i B  Gain
Ni No
•Total equivalent input noise = FN i
GF 
kT i B 
•Total equivalent input noise generated by

F –1 
Ni
receiver = 
F –1  Ni Equivalent input noise

F –1 
Ti generated by the receiver
•Effective noise temp = T eff = 
F –1 
Ti

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 5 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Noise of a Cascaded
System 1 System 2 System N
S1 G1 S1 So
G1 G2 GN
F1 F2 FN
N1 G1 N1 No

System 1 System 2

Si G1 G2
F1 F2
Ni
= kTB


F 1 –1 
kTB 
F 2 –1 
kTB
Total output noise
System 1 System N

kTB G1 GN
No = 
G 1 G 2 G N 
FkTB 
F1 FN

Total input noise =


F 1 –1 
kTB  F 2 –1  kTB  F 3 –1  kTB  F 2 –1 
-------------------------------
- -------------------------------
- 1+
F 1 –1 + -------------------
- +  kTB
G1 G1G2 G1

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 6 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Cascaded Noise Figure

T E1 = 
F 1 –1 
T System 1 System N
G1 GN
F1 FN
TE2 Total output noise
Total input noise = TE1

 F 2 –1  No = 
G 1 G 2 G N 
FkTB 
1+
F 1 –1 + -------------------- +  kTB
G1 Receiver Temp

 F 2 –1   F N –1 
kTB = k  B = k 
T E2 T EN
= F 1 + -------------------- +  + -------------------------------- - +  + --------------------------------
T + T E1 + -------- T + TE 
B
G1 G 1 G 2 G N –1  G1 G 1 G 2 G N –1 
•The noise factor for a system consisting of •The effective noise for a system consisting
N cascaded network can be found to be of N cascaded network can be found to be

 F 2 –1   F N –1 –1  T E2 T EN
+  + -------------------------------- - +  + --------------------------------
T E = T E1 + --------
F T = F 1 + --------------------
G1 G 1 G 2 G N –1 G1 G 1 G 2 G N –1
= 
F T –1 
T

F T –1 
kTB Whole system
If the first-stage network has adequate
,gain he noise figure of the total network GT
is primarily determined by the first stage.
FT GT FT 
kTB 
kTB
TE

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 7 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

An Example (RF receiver)

RF Amplifier Mixer IF Amplifier

RF input IF output
A A A

GIF = 30dB
GRF = 30dB
= 1000
= 1000
GM = 23dB FM = 1.2dB
FRF = 2.3dB
= 199.5 = 1.31
= 1.698
FM = 7.5dB
= 5.62 kT 0 B 1MHz = –114dBm

 F 2 –1   F N –1   5.62 –1   1.31 –1 
F T = F 1 + -------------------- +  + -------------------------
- = 1.698 + ---------------------------- + --------------------------------------
G1 G 1 G 2 G N –1 1000 199.6 1000
= 1.698 + 0.00462 + 1.59 10 –6 = 1.703 = 2.31dB

TE = 
F T –1 
T = 
1.703 –1  k = 203.87
290 k , if BW = 1MHz

N iequ = F T kTB = 1.703 

1.38 10 –23 290 
1 10 6 = –111.65dBm

N o = N iequ G = –111.65 + 
30 + 23 + 30 = –28.8dBm

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 8 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Sensitivity & Max. detection Distance)

1
4 2
A e = ------- G =  3 10 –2  2
P t GA e  ------------------------------
- 1000
R max = ------------------------------- 4 4
 4 2S
i min = 0.0716
1
= 100000 1000 0.0716 4-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4

 4 2 2.5 10 –12

 = 4m 2
Rmax
= 16416m = 164.16km

G = 30dB Bandwidth is too wide, such that the sensitivity

is too high. Then, the maximum range is limited.
Pt = 80 dBm = 100kW

f = 10G
Maximize the receiver SNR  B
Matched filter 1 

B = 200MHz Si S S Si S
So F = 5dB Si ------ = F -----o-  -----o- = ---------------
-  Si = FN i -----o-
------ ------ Ni No N o N iequ No
No Ni FN i
RX S imin = F T kTB  So  No  min


So 
No  = 0 dB = 
–114 + 10 log 
BMHz 
+ F TdB + 
So 
No 
min
dB
min


So 
No  = 10 20dB for reliable detection = –114 + 10 log 
200 + 5 + 0 = –86dBm
min
dB
 S imin = –66 –76 
dB  = 2.5 10 –9 mW

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 9 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Radar Receiver Noise Figure

• DSBNF(double sideband noise figure)

fIF
— radio astronomy noise figure
— radiometer noise figure
— Radiometer-type receiver: echo
occupies upper and lower
sidebands
1 No -
— FDSB = --- ----------------------
G kT o  2B 

• SSBNF(single sideband noise figure)

— Radar: echo occupies only noise at
the signal frequency
No
— FSSB = 1 - = F DSB 2 = F DSBdB + 3dB
--- ------------------
G kT o  B
— NF (venders) +3dB for radar NF

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 10 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Dynamic Range
•The radar receiver is required to receives and
detect signal levels near the receiver noise
level, also be able to tolerate echo signals
from large RCS target at close range
Receiver Dynamic Range
•Nonlinearity
•Minimum signal level = noise
•Maximum signal level = no distortion to input
power
•1-dB compression point
SFDR •SFDR (Spurious Free Dynamic Range)
•1-dB SFDR: 70~100dB
•Generally, is determined by mixer. Various
stages following mixer do not saturate prior to
mixer
Dynamic Range
•linearity from receiver noise level to a power of
about -10db
•Without RF gain control, the useful dynamic
range of a receiver is generally determined by
mixer dynamic range.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 11 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Dynamic Range Improvement

•Various following the mixer (IF amplifier, detector,
Subsys Subsys Subsys
video amplifier) do not saturate prior to the mixer in 1 2 3
order to preserve dynamic range
Dynamic Range D 3 D 2 D 1
Power Control increasing dynamic range without
degrading long-range detection performance
•AGC (Auto gain control): prior to the mixer will
increase the effective dynamic range. R1 
T1
R2
T2 
- May fluctuate due to variations in the target
cross section G = R4
G = 40LogR
G G
- Result in additional loss prior to the mixer. Noise
level , sensitivity and DR .
R R
•STC (Sensitivity Time control): may be better to vary
gain as a function of time to provide more •DR is particularly important for processing
amplification for targets that are farther away far in a multiple echoes. Large signals may cause
pulsed radar system saturation in the receiver  masking of more
- Receiver sensitivity is reduced in detecting distant echoes
small targets at close-in range, since gain is •Provided the radar utilizes a pulse that is
small at close-in range. sufficiently short so as to discriminate at various
- may be helpful in reducing the effects of close- ranges between R1 and R2, Gain can be variable
·
range target without degrading the long-range to keep received power P r Cons tan t .
detection performance

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 12 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

IF Selection and Filtering

Bandwidth of signal •The gain and filtering in the receiver usually
•The basic rule of the thumb for a pulse radar distributed over stages of varying gains and
losses.
application is that receiver bandwidth B 1 
.
•Gain must be distributed so that IF stages do
B , noise .100ns pulse, B= 10MHz
not saturate prior to saturation at the RF
•Pulse has spectral characteristic H 
f , the converter (RF mixer)
matched filter should have spectral •Narrowband filtering is most easily and
characteristic H
f . RF Amp IF Amp
Mixer
B
IF selection A A
•Mixer/LO implementation: 30dB
30dB
- IF , Mixer-and- LO induced noise . Select IF components
10dBm for their gain, BW and
- IF , noise from IF amplifier , since output power
frequency , noise . •Transmitted waveform characteristics
- IF 30M~4G are common in radar application - At the higher millimeter wave frequency
•Availability of IF processing components. (140G), a higher IF is required. A minimum
separation of LO and TX frequencies if 750M
- IF signal-processing components (Log IFs, to 1000M Hz is required.
pulse compression, surface acoustic wave
devices SAW, limiters) are available at lower - Broadband systems also require higher IF
frequency (30~500M) frequency to minimize spurious response.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 13 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

UP-Down Converter (Example)

Three-stage up-down converter
• Flitter out Image, Local leakage, IM ....

f IF2

f LO1 –f IF2 = 7. f IF2 = f LO1 –f IF 1

B=400
VCO
70M
f LO1
f LO2
8G 1G

f LO1 –f IF2 = 7.
I/Q
Demod

f IF2 = f LO1 –f IF1

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 14 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Receiver Components
Mixer Amplifier Diode
•Single-ended, •RF Limiter
•Balanced •IF Accumulator
Duplexer
Oscillator
Isolator
Switch
Phase shiftier
Filter

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 15 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Receiver Protection
Duplexer
•A single antenna for both transmission and reception.
•responsible for protecting the receiver during transmission Ant. duplexer
and for switching the antenna between TX and RX.
TX
Types
•High power radius employs power-sensitive gas discharge
isolation
tubes to direct the TX or RX energy
- Transmit-receive (TR)
- anti-transmit-receive (ATR) tubes
•Ferrite duplexer (circulator) RX

- Do not employ gas tubes

- use circulator, use ferrite materials
- 25~ 30dB isolation

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 16 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Receiver Protection
Diode limiters
•Designed to perform the same function as the receiver
Protector TR discussed above
•Reflect or absorb essentially all incident RF power above
a certain level
•Ferrite or semiconductor  more reliable than TR
tubes, Low insertion loss
•Pin Diode Switches
- fast 5 to 25 ns switching time
- 15-30dB isolation
duplexer
- Insertion loss 2 ~ 4dB
Open TX

switching time
isolation
Ant. 25~30dB
Isolation Po

Limiter Switch
more isolation
Insertion loss Pi RX provided by switch

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 17 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Receiver Protection Characteristics

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 18 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Mixer
•At microwave frequency, mixer are usually F o : output Freq. F 2 : LO Freq. F 1 : input Freq.
obtained using point contact or schottky
barrier diodes.
•in some applications, the mixer may be the
first device in your receiver system
•NF (noise figure) = 1 dB at 5G, 5 dB at 95 G
•The nonlinear mixing process produces many
sum and difference frequency of the signals,
LO (local oscillation) and their harmonics.
•Mixing action generally described by

I = f 
v = a0 + a1 v + a2 v2 +  + an v n
•Given that

v 
t = V RF sin 
w RF t + V LO sin 
w LO t 

the primary mixing products, w LO w RF ,

come from the second-order term and
proportional to a 2 in amplitude.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 19 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Mixing

v 2 
t = 
V RF sin 
w RF t + V LO sin 
w LO t 
2
Mixer
B
2 sin 2 w t 2 sin 2 w t RF IF
= V RF RF + V LO LO +
2V RF V LO sin 
w RF t 
sin 
w LO t 
All harmonics and IMPs must
be suppressed by filtering
V RF V LO 
cos 
w RF –w LO 
t –cos 
w RF + w LO 
t 10dBm

LO
•When the signal is mixed with the LO frequency
LO
of f RF –f LO = f IF andf RF + f LO results
Image Signal
•Similarly, when the image signal is mixed with
the LO frequency f RF –2f IF –f LO = – f IF and IF IF
f RF –2f IF + f LO may results
f RF –2f IF f RF
•But recall that because of the many other
powers that are generated, many harmonics
and intermodulation products (IMPs). e.g.
cos 2 x = 1 
21 + cos 2x ,
cos x = 1 
3 4cos 3x + 3 cos x 
•Non-linearity: Harmonics, Spurious –f IF f IF

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 20 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Mixer Dynamic Range

In many applications dynamic range Low end
is limited by mixer dynamic range High end
Thermal noise
(DR) DR1
Three definitions for DR DR2
•Low end: Thermal noise + NFmix, High DR3
end: saturated output ~Lo power
conversion Loss
•Low end: Thermal noise + NFmix, High
end: 1 dB compression point (input
power at which conversion loss
increases by 1 dB.
•Low end: Thermal noise + NFmix, High
end: input power level at which two
third-order IMP just equal mixer output
noise level.
conversion (Insertion) loss for IF (5 ~ 10 dB)

Mixer
RF IF
radiate
RF/LO Isolation
LO/IF Isolation (10 ~ 20 dB)
(12 ~ 23 dB)
5~13 dBm
LO Harmonics down
IMP down SFDR

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 21 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Mixer Configurations

Single-ended mixer
•The simplest form
•LO energy can be radiated by the receiver antenna
(RF/LO isolation)
•All harmonics and IMPs will be suppressed by
filtering, if required.
Balanced mixer
•reduce spurious response, cancellation of DC
components at the IF output, and convenient
separation of LO and RF inputs.
•The even harmonics of one of the input signals are
suppressed. Harmonics of the LO signal are
suppressed.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 22 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Image-reject mixer
Hybrid
90o

SSB mod. 90o

IMG. rej. mixer

0o

LO

V RF cos 
w IF t + w LO t +  1
w IF t + 
--- V RF V LO cos  Image Signal
2
V IM cos –w IF t + w LO t +  1
w IF t –
--- V IM V LO cos 
2 IF IF

f LO –IF f IF + LO
1
--- V RF V LO cos w IF t + + 1--- V RF V LO cos w IF t + –= 0
2 2
1-
-- V IM V LO cos w IF t –+ --1- V IM V LO cos w IF t –
2 2
1
--- V RF V LO sin w IF t + + 1--- V RF V LO sin w IF t + 
2 2
1
--- V IM V LO sin 
w IF t – – 1
w IF t –= 0
--- V IM V LO sin 
V LO cos 
w LO t  2 2
1
--- V RF V LO sin w IF t + 
2
V RF sin 
w IF t + wLO t + 
–w IF t + w LO t + 
V IM sin  –--2- V IM V LO sin w IF t –
1

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 23 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Detector
increase RF input signal until
Superheterodyne receiver
minimum peak of video signal plus
•At least two stages of down conversion in the noise is the same as the maximum
peak of the video noise.
detection process
•The first down conversion is accomplished by the
first detector (Mixer)
•Information at IF consists of the phase, amplitude,
and frequency of received echo signal.
Second-stage detection
•Square Law detection: No LO signal, output
voltage is proportional to input RF power (square
of RF input voltage)
- Tangential signal sensitivity (TSS):
•Synchronous detection: With an LO input, the
detection process is linear
- second LO (COHO) is at the same freq. as the IF.
- I/Q provides amp. and phase information.
•Phase detection: IF signals are hard-limited
(const. amp.), only phase information.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 24 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Amplifier
•1dB compression point (Output) ~ 30dBm IMP3
1dB com. pt Saturation Pt.
•3rd order 2-tone intercept point (Output) ~ 35 dB
•NF ~ 7.5dB
•BW ~ 150 MHz
•Gain ~ 16 dB
•Pnoise = -114 + 10 log (BW)+ NF = -114
+10log(150)+7.5 = -84.5 dBm
1dB compression Dynamic Range
•P1 (input) = 30 - 16 = 14
•DR1dB = P1 (input) - Pnoise = 14-(-84.5) = 98dB
Spurious Free Dynamic Range (SFDR)
•P1 = 35 - 16 = 19 dBm (input)
•SFDR = 2/3(P1 - Pnoise ) = 2/3 (19+84.5) = 69 dB
Logarithmic IF amplifier/detector (log amp)
•Output video is proportional to the logarithm of the
RF input. Pn
P1
DR1 = 98DB
•Extremely wide dynamic range (70 ~ 80 dB)
SFDR
•No AGC to achieve the wide dynamic range. -84.5dBm

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 25 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Coherent Radar Receiver Design

Fully Coherent Detection

•RF transmitted signal  the combination of a

STALO (stable LO) and a COHO (coherent LO) IF
oscillator
•The sum is formed in an up-converter and
amplified using a pulsed RF amplifier.
•On receive, IF signal (60MHz ~ 4 GHz) is the same
frequency as the COHO,
•IF signal is amplified, filtered...., and then down-
converted to baseband Doppler by mixing with
COHO.

•Orthogonal mixer  I and Q signal components

•Signal-processing circuitry consist of MTI or pulse-
Doppler filtering.
Coherent on Receive
•maximum coherence or MTI improvement is not
required.
•A noncherent transmitter can be employed

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 26 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Coherent Receiver on Receive

Tuned COHO Tuned COHO

•receive phase tracks transmitter phase  •highly stable COHO to tune transmitter to match
stability can be maintained in COHO during it in frequency  stability can be realized.
the time bet. transmission and reception,
•correct each target echo before applying the
and repeatability of phase locking of
signal to moving target filter
COHO from pulse to pulse.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 27 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

 Radar System Design

Pulse Compression

•Allow a radar to use a long pulse

to achieve high radiated energy
and simultaneously to obtain
range resolution
•Use freq. or phase modulation to
wider the signal bandwidth
•Linear FM pulse compression
•A stable but noncoherent LO
•RF and IF processing circuitry
must be broadband
•IF amplifier must have sufficient
bandwidth and linear phase over
the band
•Compressive filters used are
surface acoustic wave (SAW)
devices. analog device is used to
obtained a compressed video
output.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 28 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin

Radar System Design

Frequency Stepped Coherent Receiver

High-range resolution Range Resolution = c 
2B T B T = N f
•Wideband frequency stepped c = 3 10 10 
cm 
s
waveform

SN
impr = 10 log 
BT 
B B = inverse of TX pulse width
•processing the received echo using (matched filter approx. )
FFT
Ex: 128 10MHz steps and a 100-ns pulse width
•Coherent or noncoherent detection
•Coherent processing can increase 3 10 10  cm  s
R res = ------------------------------------------ = 11.72cm
the receiver SNR 2 128 10M
•STALO with a frequency 1280 10 6


SN
impr = 10 log 
------------------------------ = 21dB
synthesizer whose output
10 7 
frequency is selectable in N
discrete steps of f step size
•Total bandwidth = N f
•Wide bandwidth requirement for the
receiver front end (circulator,
protector, RF mixer
•effectively generates a wideband
signal while maintaining a
narrowband receiver.

Chapter 7: Radar Receiver 7 - 29 Dr. Sheng-Chou Lin