Introduction to RADAR

Communication
Dr. Pritam Keshari Sahoo
DESCRIPTION OF RADAR

• A radar operates by radiating electromagnetic energy and detecting the

echo returned from reflecting objects (targets).
• The range, or distance, to the target is found from the time it takes for
the radiated energy to travel to the target and back.
• The angular location of the target is found with a directive antenna
(one with a narrow beam width) to sense the angle of arrival of the
echo signal.
• If the target is moving, a radar can derive its track, or trajectory, and
predict the future location. The shift in frequency of the received echo
signal due to the doppler effect caused by a moving target allows a
radar to separate desired moving targets
Radar Block Diagram
Transmitter

• power amplifier, such as a klystron, traveling-wave tube, crossed-field

amplifier, or solid state Device.
• A power oscillator such as a magnetron also can be used as the
transmitter; but the magnetron usually is of limited average power
compared with power amplifiers, especially the klystron, which can
produce much larger average power than can a magnetron and is more
stable.
• The magnetron oscillator might be found in systems where simplicity
and mobility are important and where high average power, good MTI
performance, or pulse compression is not required.
• Power: mW-MW
• The radar equation shows that the range of a radar is proportional to
the fourth root of the transmitter power. Thus, to double the range
requires that the power be increased by 16. This means that there
often is a practical, economical limit to the amount of power that
should be employed to increase the range of a radar.
Duplexer

• The duplexer acts as a rapid switch to protect the receiver from

damage when the high-power transmitter is on. On reception, with the
transmitter off, the duplexer directs the weak received signal to the
receiver rather than to the transmitter.

• Antenna
• The transmitter power is radiated into space by a directive antenna
which concentrates the energy into a narrow beam.
• Parabolic reflector antennas and planar phased arrays both find wide
application in radar.
• A typical antenna beam width for the detection or tracking of aircraft
might be about 1 or 2°.
• The size of a radar antenna depends in part on the frequency, whether
the radar is located on the ground or on a moving vehicle, and the
environment in which it must operate.

• Receiver
• Super heterodyne type.
• Matched filter: one which maximizes the output signal to noise ratio.
• The second detector in the receiver is an envelope detector which
eliminates the IF carrier and passes the modulation envelope.
• When doppler processing is employed, as it is in CW (continuous-
wave), MTI, and pulse doppler radars, the envelope detector is
replaced by a phase detector which extracts the doppler frequency by
comparison with a reference signal at the transmitted frequency
RADAR EQUATION

• Gives the range of a radar in terms of the radar characteristics

• The numerator of the second factor is the target cross section a in

square meters. The denominator accounts for the divergence on the
return path of the electromagnetic radiation with range and is the
same as the denominator of the first factor.
• The product of the first two terms represents the power per square
meter returned to the radar
• The examples of the radar equation given above are useful for rough
computations of range performance
• There are at least two major reasons why the simple form of the radar
equation does not predict with any accuracy the range of actual
radars.
• First, it does not include the various losses that can occur in a radar.
• Second, the target cross section and the minimum detectable signal
are statistical in nature.
• The minimum detectable signal can be expressed as the signal-to-
noise ratio (SIN) required for reliable detection times the receiver
noise.
• The receiver noise is expressed relative to the thermal noise that
would be produced by an ideal receiver. The thermal noise is equal to
kTB.
• The receiver noise is the thermal noise multiplied by the factor Fn, the
receiver noise figure. The receiver noise figure is measured relative to
a reference temperature T0 = 290 K (approximately room
temperature), and the factor kT0 becomes 4 x 10-21 W/Hz. The
minimum detectable signal in the radar equation can be written

• T0Fn is replaced with Ts, the system noise temperature

• For a rectangular pulse of width τ the signal power is E /τ and the
noise power is N0B. where E = signal energy, N0 = noise energy, or
noise power per unit bandwidth (provided the noise is uniform with
frequency), and B = receiver bandwidth. With these substitutions, Smin
becomes
Application: Tracking
• In this situation the radar is assumed to track continuously or a target
for an interval of time t0.

• Thus, in a tracking radar that must "see" to a long range, the average
power must be high, the time on target must be long, and the antenna
must be of large electrical size (G,) and large physical size (Ae).
• Since it is easier mechanically to move a small antenna than a large one,
tracking radars are usually found at the higher frequencies, where small
apertures can have high gain and thus an adequate G, Ae product.
Application: Volume Search
• Assume that the radar must search an angular volume of Ω steradians
in the time ts. If the antenna beam subtends an angle of Ωb steradians,
the antenna gain Gt, is approximately 4П/ Ωb. If the antenna beam
dwells a time t0 in each direction subtended by the beam, the total
scan time is ts = t0 Ω / Ωb

• Thus for a volume search radar the two important parameters for
maximizing range are the average transmitter power and the antenna
Application: Jamming
• When the detection of the radar signal is limited by an external noise
source rather than by receiver noise.

• gs = sidelobe level relative to main beam (number less than unity)

• Rj = jammer range
• Bj = jammer bandwidth
• Pj = jammer power
• Gj = jammer antenna gain
INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM THE
RADAR ECHO
• Detection of a target signifies the discovery of its presence.
• The more information that is known about the target a priori, the
more efficient will be the detection.
• For example, if the target location were known, the antenna could be
pointed in the proper direction and energy or time need not be
wasted searching empty space.
• Or, if the relative velocity were known, the receiver could be pretuned
to the correct received frequency, negating the need to search the
frequency band over which the doppler shift might occur
Range
• The ability to determine range by measuring the time for the radar
signal to propagate to the target and back is probably the
distinguishing and most important characteristic of conventional
radar at such long ranges, and under adverse weather conditions
• The usual radar waveform for determining range is the short pulse.
The shorter the pulse, the more precise can be the range
measurement
Radial Velocity
• The doppler frequency shift of the echo signal from a moving target
also provides a measure of radial velocity.
• Any measurement of velocity, whether by the rate of change of range
or by the doppler frequency shift, requires time. The longer the time
of observation, the more accurate can be the measurement of
velocity.
• Doppler frequency shift is used in some applications to measure radial
velocity
RANGE EQUATIONS

• Radar Transmission Equation. The following equation, in the form given in Kerr,
is called the transmission equation
• The factor Ft is defined as the ratio, at the target position, of the field strength E to
that which would exist at the same distance from the radar in free space and in the
antenna beam maximum-gain direction, E0. The factor F1. is analogously defined.

• Maximum-Range Equation

• This equation states that R is the range at which the received-echo power will be
Pr if the transmitted power is Pt, target size a, and so forth. It becomes a
maximum-range equation by the simple expedient of attaching subscripts to Pr
and R so that they become Pr,min and Rmax- That is, when the value of Pr in Eq.
is the minimum detectable value, the corresponding range is the maximum range
of the radar.
A first step toward a more useful equation is replacement of Pr by a
more readily evaluated expression. This is done by first defining the
signal-to-noise power ratio:
• S/N = Pr/Pn
• where Pn is the power level of the noise in the receiving system,
which determines the minimum value of Pr that can be detected. This
noise power, in turn, can be expressed in terms of a receiving-system
noise temperature Ts
• Pn = kTsBn
• Pr = (S/N) KTsBn
• Usually somewhat smaller power that is actually delivered to the
antenna terminals because of loss in the transmission line.
• With this changed definition, Pt must be replaced by Pt/Lt,, where Lt
is a loss factor defined as the ratio of the transmitter output power to
the power actually delivered to the antenna.
• for example, three loss factors L1, L2, and L3, they can be represented
by a single system loss factor L = L1L2L3. The resulting maximum
range equation is
DEFINITION AND EVALUATION OF RANGE
FACTORS

• Transmitter Power and Pulse Length

• The radar transmission equation, from which all the subsequent range equations
are derived, is an equation for the dimensionless ratio Pt/Pr. Consequently, the
most basic requirement on the definition of Pt is that it agree with the definition of
Pr. For a CW radar, the power (averaged over an RF cycle) is constant, and there
is no definition problem. For a pulse radar, both Pt and Pr are usually defined as
the pulse power, which is the average power during the pulse. More precisely,
Radar Receiver noise and SNR
• The concept of a noise temperature is derived from Nyquist's theorem,
which states that if a resistive circuit element is at temperature T
(kelvins) there will be generated in it an open-circuit thermal-noise
voltage given by

• As thus defined, Vn is the open-circuit voltage at the resistor

terminals. If an external impedance-matched load of resistance RL =
R is connected, the noise power delivered to it will be
Pn= TkB
Noise Temperature

• The usual noise that exists in a radar receiving system is partly of

thermal origin and partly from other noise-generating processes.
• Most of these other processes produce noise which, within typical
receiver bandwidths, has the same spectral and probabilistic nature as
does thermal noise. Therefore it can all be lumped together and
regarded as thermal noise.
• This is done, and the available-power level Pn is described by
assigning to the noise a semifictitious "noise temperature" Tn, which is
• Each two-port transducer of the receiving-system cascade can be
regarded as having its own effective input noise temperature Te,
representing its intrinsic available output noise power referred to its
own input terminals. Here intrinsic means the power that the
transducer would generate with a noise-free input termination of the
same impedance as the actual input termination. Transducer output
power is referred to the input terminals by dividing the output power
by the available gain of the transducer.
• For an TV-transducer cascade, the system input noise temperature
(with the antenna terminals considered to be the system input
terminals) is then given by
THE CONFIGURATION OF A RADAR RECEIVER

• Amplify the echoes of the radar transmission and to filter them in a

manner that will provide the maximum discrimination between desired
echoes and undesired interference.
MINIMUM DETECTABLE SIGNAL

• The weakest signal the receiver can detect is called the minimum detectable
signal.
• If the receiver output exceeds the threshold, a signal is assumed to be present.
This is called threshold detection. Consider the output of a typical radar receiver
as a function of time
• If the signal were small, however, it would be more difficult to
recognize its presence. The threshold level must be low if weak signals
are to be detected, but it cannot be so low that noise peaks cross the
threshold and give a false indication of the presence of targets.
• A target is said to be detected if the envelope crosses the threshold. if
the signal is large such as at A, it is not difficult to decide that a target
is present. But consider the two signals at B and C, representing target
echoes of equal amplitude. The noise voltage accompanying the signal
at B is large enough so that the combination of signal plus noise
exceeds the threshold. At C the noise is not as large and the resultant
signal plus noise does not cross the threshold. Thus the presence of
noise will sometimes enhance the detection of weak signals but it may
also cause the loss of a signal which would otherwise be detected
• Weak signals such as C would riot be lost if the threshold level were
lower. But too low a threshold increases the likelihood that noise alone
will rise above the threshold and be taken for a real signal. Such an
occurrence is called a false alarm.
RECEIVER NOISE
• Noise is unwanted electromagnetic energy which interferes with the
ability of the receiver to detect the wanted signal. It may originate
within the receiver itself, or it may enter via the receiving antenna
along with the desired signal
• Available thermal-noise power Pn= TkB

• When H(f) is normalized . to unity at midband (maximum-response

frequency), H(fo) = 1. The bandwidth Bn is called the noise
bandwidth
• No matter whether the noise is generated by a thermal mechanism or
by some other mechanism. the total noise at the output of the receiver
may be considered to be equal to the thermal-noise power obtained
from an " ideal " receiver multiplied by a factor called the noise figure.
The noise figure Fn of a receiver is defined by the equation

where No = noise output from receiver, and Go = available gain. The

standard temperature To is taken to be 290 K, The available gain G, is
the ratio of the signal out So to the signal in Si.
• The noise figure may be interpreted, therefore, as a measure of the
degradation of signal-to noise-ratio as the signal passes through the
receiver.

• If the minimum detectable signal Smin is that value of Si

corresponding to the minimum ratio of output (IF) signal-to-noise
ratio (So /No)min necessary for detection. then
INTEGRATION OF RADAR PULSES
• The number of pulses nB returned from a point target as the radar
antenna scans through its beamwidth
• Typical parameters for a ground-based search radar might be pulse
repetition frequency 300 Hz, 1.5o beamwidth, and antenna scan rate 5
rpm (30o/s). These parameters result in 15 hits from a point target on
each scan. The process of summing all the radar echo pulses for the
purpose of improving detection is called integration.
1. Integration before the detector is called pedetection, or coherent,
integration
2. Integration after the detector is called postdetection, or
noncoherenr, integration
• If n pulses, all of the same signal-to-noise ratio, were integrated by an
ideal predetection integrator, the resultant, or integrated, signal-to-
noise (power) ratio would be exactly n times that of a single pulse. If
the same n pulses were integrated by an ideal postdetection device, the
resultant signal-to-noise ratio would be less than n times that of a
single pulse.
The integration efficiency is defined as
PULSE REPETITION FREQUENCY AND RANGE
AMBIGUITIES
• If pulse repetition frequency is high, echo signal from targets and
ambiguities in the measurement of range is high.
• Echo signal that arrive after transmission of next pulse are called the
second time around Echoes.
• Range beyond which targets appears as second-time around echoes
called maximum unambiguous range.
PROPAGATION EFFECTS
• The effects of non-free-space propagation on the radar are of three
categories:
• (1) attenuation of the radar wave as it propagates through the earth's
atmosphere,
• (2) refraction of the radar wave by the earth's atmosphere, and
• (3) lobe structure caused by interference between the direct wave
from radar to target and the wave which arrives at the target via
reflection from the ground.
Class Assignments

1. Derive Radar range equation in terms of MDS (minimum detectable

signal) (b) What is maximum unambiguous range? How is it related
with PRF?
2. Explain the basic principles of Radar and discuss about various
parameters which improve the performance of the Radar (b)
Discuss about Radar frequencies and list out the Applications of
Radars
CW AND FREQUENCY-MODULATED RADAR

• THE DOPPLER EFFECT

• A radar detects the presence of objects and locates their position in space by
transmitting electromagnetic energy and observing the returned echo.
• A pulse radar transmits a relatively short burst of electromagnetic energy, after
which the receiver is turned on to listen for the echo.
• The echo not only indicates that a target is present, but the time that elapses
between the transmission of the pulse and the receipt of the echo is a measure of
the distance to the target.
• The radar transmitter may be operated continuously rather than pulsed if the
strong transmitted signal can be separated from the weak echo. The received-
echo-signal power is considerably smaller than the transmitter power.
• A feasible technique for separating the received signal from the transmitted
signal when there is relative motion between radar and target is based on
recognizing the change in the echo-signal frequency caused by the doppler
effect.
• if either the source of oscillation or the observer of the oscillation is in motion,
an apparent shift in frequency will result. This is the doppler effect and is the
basis of CW radar.
• If R is the distance from the radar to target, the total number of wavelengths λ
contained in the two-way path between the radar and the target is
2R/λ.
• Since one wavelength corresponds to an angular excursion of 2П radians, the
total angular excursion ф made by the electromagnetic wave during its transit to
and from the target is
4 ПR/ λ radians
• If the target is in motion, R and the phase Ф are continually changing. A change
in Ф, with respect to time is equal to a frequency. This is the doppler angular
frequency wd

Vr is the relative velocity of target w.r.t. radar.

Fo= transmitted frequency

CW radar
• Consider the simple CW radar as illustrated by the block diagram of Figure
below. The transmitter generates a continuous (unmodulated) oscillation of
frequency fo, which is radiated by the antenna. A portion of the radiated
energy is intercepted by the target and is scattered, some of it in the
direction of the radar, where it is collected by the receiving antenna. If the
target is in motion with a velocity Vr relative to the radar, the received
signal will be shifted in frequency from the transmitted frequency fo by an
amount +/-fd
• The plus sign associated with the Doppler frequency applies if the
distance between target and radar is decreasing (approaching target)
that is, when the received signal frequency is greater than the
transmitted signal frequency. The minus sign applies if the distance is
increasing (receding target). The received echo signal at a frequency
fo +/- fd enters the radar via the antenna and is heterodyned in the
detector (mixer) with a portion of the transmitter signal fo to produce
a Doppler beat note of frequency fd. The sign of fd is lost in this
process.
• Block diagram of a CW Doppler radar with nonzero IF receiver, also called sideband super heterodyne
Receiver
Advantages and disadvantages of CW Radars:
• The principal advantage of CW Doppler radar over the other (non
radar) methods of measuring speed is that there need not be any
physical contact with the object whose speed is being measured.
• High-power CW radars for the detection of aircraft and other targets
have been developed and have been used in such systems as the
Hawk missile systems.
• The CW radar, when used for short or moderate ranges, is
characterized by simpler equipment than a pulse radar
• Major disadvantage of the simple CW radar is its inability to obtain a
measurement of range. This limitation can be overcome by
modulating the CW carrier, as in the frequency-modulated radar.
FM-CW RADAR
• The inability of the simple CW radar to measure range is mainly due
to the lack of a Timing mark. The timing mark permits the time of
transmission and the time of return to be recognized but it increases
the spectrum of the transmitted waveform.
• In the frequency-modulated CW radar (abbreviated FM-CW), the
transmitter frequency is changed as a function of time in a known
manner. Assume that the transmitter frequency increases linearly
with time, as shown by the solid line in the figure below.
If there is a reflecting object at a distance R, the echo signal will return
after a time T = 2R/c.
Although it was indicated earlier that CW radar can not measure range,
it is possible under some circumstances to do so by measuring the
phase of the echo signal relative to the phase of the transmitted signal.
Consider a CW radar radiating a single-frequency sine wave of the form
sin2πfot(The amplitude of the signal is taken to be unity since it does
not influence the result) the signal travels to the target at a range R and
returns to the radar after a time T = 2R/c where c is the velocity of
propagation. The echo signal received at the radar is sin [2πfo(t –T)]. If
the transmitted and received signals are compared in a phase detector,
the output is proportional to the phase difference between the two and
is given by :
• Δφ= 2πfoT =4πfoR/c
• The phase difference may therefore be used as a measure of the
range

• However, the measurement of the phase difference Δφ is

unambiguous only if Δφ does not exceed 2π radians. Substituting Δφ
= 2π into the above equation (Eq.1) gives the maximum unambiguous
range as λ/2.At radar frequencies this unambiguous range is much too
small to be of any practical interest.
• Unambiguous range may be extended considerably by utilizing two
separate CW signals differing slightly in frequency.
Multiple-frequency CW Radar
• The transmitted waveform is assumed to consist of two continuous
sine waves of frequency f1 and f2 separated by an amount Δf. For
convenience, the amplitudes of all signals are set equal to unity. The
voltage waveforms of the two components of the transmitted signal
v1T and v2T may be written as

• where Ø1 and Ø2 are arbitrary (constant) phase angles.

• The echo signal is shifted in frequency by the Doppler Effect. The form
of the Doppler-shifted signals corresponding to the two frequencies f1
and f2 are:

• Where Ro = range to target at a particular time t = to(range that

would be measured if target were not moving)
• fd1 = Doppler frequency shift associated with frequency f1 fd2 =
Doppler frequency shift associated with frequency f2
• Since the two RF frequencies f1and f2are approximately the same
(that is f2=f1+ Δf, where Δf <<f 1)the Doppler frequency shifts fd1and
fd2 can be assumed to be equal to each other.
• Therefore we may write fd1= fd2= fd
• The receiver separates the two components of the echo signal and
heterodynes each received signal component with the corresponding
transmitted waveform and extracts the two Doppler-frequency
components given below:
• The phase difference between these two components is

• A large difference in frequency between the two transmitted signals

improves the accuracy of the range measurement since large Δf means
a proportionately large change in ΔØ for a given range. However, there
is a limit to the value of Δf since ΔØ cannot be greater than 2π radians
if the range is to remain unambiguous. The maximum unambiguous
range Runamb is
MTI AND PULSE DOPPLER RADAR
• The Doppler frequency shift [fd =2Vr / λ] produced by a moving target
may be used in a pulse radar just as in the CW radar, to determine the
relative velocity of a target or to separate desired moving targets from
undesired stationary objects (clutter).
• Such a pulse radar that utilizes the Doppler frequency shift as a means
of discriminating moving targets from fixed targets is called a
MTI(moving target indication) or a pulse Doppler radar. The two are
based on the same physical principle, but in practice there are
differences between MTI and Pulse Doppler radar.
• Principle of operation:

• If the CW oscillator voltage is represented as A1sin 2πftt where A1 = amplitude and ft the carrier frequency
• Then the reference signal is: Vref = A2sin 2πftt
• And the Doppler-shifted echo-signal voltage is

• A2 = amplitude of reference signal

• A3 = amplitude of signal received from a target at a range R0
• fd = Doppler frequency shift
• t = time
• c = velocity of propagation
• The reference signal and the target echo signal are heterodyned in the mixer
stage of the receiver. Only the low-frequency (difference-frequency) component
from the mixer is of interest and is a voltage given by:

• Note that the equations (1) to (3) above represent sine wave carriers upon
which the pulse modulation is imposed. The difference frequency is equal to
the Doppler frequency fd. For stationary targets the Doppler frequency shift will
be zero and hence Vdiff will not vary with time and may take on any constant
value from +A4 to –A4 including zero. However, when the target is in motion
relative to the radar fd has a value other than zero and the voltage
corresponding to the difference frequency from the mixer [Eq. (3)] will be a
function of time.
Concept of delay-line canceller:

The delay-line canceller acts as a filter to eliminate the d-c component of fixed targets and to pass
the a- c components of moving targets. The video portion of the receiver is divided into two
channels. One is a normal video channel. In the other, the video signal experiences a time delay
equal to one pulse repetition period (equal to the reciprocal of the pulse repetition frequency). The
outputs from the two channels are subtracted from one another. The fixed targets with unchanging
amplitudes from pulse to pulse are canceled on subtraction. However, the amplitudes of the
moving-target echoes are not constant from pulse to pulse and subtraction results in an un
canceled residue. The output of the subtraction circuit is a bipolar video just as was the input.
Before bipolar video can intensity-modulate a PPI display it is converted into unipotential voltages
(unipolar video) by a full-wave rectifier.
Pulse Doppler Radar Vs MTI :

A Pulse radar that extracts the Doppler frequency shift for the purpose of detecting
moving targets in the presence of clutter is either a MTI Radar or a Pulse Doppler
Radar. The distinction between them is based on the fact that in a sampled
measurement system like a pulse Radar, ambiguities arise in measuring both the
Doppler frequency (relative velocity) and the Range (time delay). Range ambiguities
are avoided with a low sampling rate (low pulse repetition frequency), and Doppler
frequency ambiguities are avoided with a high sampling rate. However, in most
radar applications the sampling rate, or pulse repetition frequency, cannot be
selected to avoid both types of measurement ambiguities.
Therefore, a compromise must be made and the nature of the compromise
generally determines
whether the radar is called an MTI or a Pulse Doppler Radar.
• MTI usually refers to a Radar in which the pulse repetition frequency
is chosen low enough to avoid ambiguities in range (no multiple-time-
around echoes) but with the consequence that the frequency
measurement is ambiguous and results in blind speeds.
• The pulse Doppler radar, on the other hand, has a high pulse
repetition frequency that avoids blind speeds, but it experiences
ambiguities in range.