RADAR Sensors

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 1

 Week 8 Overview
• Lesson 1 – Radar Fundamentals
• Lesson 2 – Radar Fundamentals continued
• Lesson 3 – Synthetic Aperture Radar & Ground Moving
Target Indicator Fundamentals
• Lesson 4 – SAR Image Processing; Sensor Fusion

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 2

 Radar Fundamentals

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 3

 Radar Fundamentals
• Radar has many uses, including producing high resolution
maps of the terrain and moving targets as shown below:

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 4

 Radar Fundamentals
• What RADAR can do for us: “The Observables”

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 5

 Radar Fundamentals
• The basic principles of operation of radar are simple to
understand, although the theory and mathematics can
become quite complex.
• A basic understanding of radar theory is essential in order to
be able to specify and operate radar systems correctly.
• The implementation and operation of radar systems involve a
wide range of disciplines to include mechanical and
electrical engineering, high power microwave engineering,
and advanced high speed signal and data processing
techniques.
• We will cover the basics of radar theory and operations
sufficient to be able to discuss ground and airborne based
radars, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), foliage penetrating
radar (FOPEN) , and ground moving target indicators
© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 6
 Radar Fundamentals
• The First Principles of RADAR

• The time it takes for a transmitted pulse of electromagnetic

energy to travel from the radar transmitter to the target, echo
off the target, travel back to the radar, be received by the
radar receiver.
• Pretty Simple—Right?

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 7

 Radar Fundamentals
• The word RADAR is a contraction of RAdio Detecting
And Ranging

• I am sure you can think of dozens of useful applications

for radar, not the least of which is to keep your airliner free
of other aircraft traffic as you travel from Los Angeles to
New York to London to Paris to Tokyo, or to wherever you
are going.

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 8

 Radar Fundamentals

Early History of RADAR

• 1903 – German Scientists demonstrate detection of ships at
sea using radio waves

• 1922 – Marconi presents the idea in Britain but receives

very little interest
• Early experiments use continuous wave (CW) that did not
provide range to the target

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 9

 Radar Fundamentals
Chain Home Radar System

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 10

 Radar Fundamentals

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 11

 Radar Fundamentals

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 12

 Radar Fundamentals

Early History of RADAR

“Würzburg Riese”, World War II radar produced

in 1940 by Telefunken (Germany)

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 13

 Radar Fundamentals

Advantages and Disadvantages Over Human Eye Sensor

• Advantages:
– Sees further than the human eye can see
– More accurately determines range to an object than human eye
– Works well in all weather and day or night conditions
– Relatively immune to smoke, haze, clouds between radar and
object
• Disadvantages:
– Does not have the resolution of the human eye
– Cannot perform target acquisition levels (detect, recognize, ID) as
well as the human eye
– More affected by echo clutter than the human eye and brain

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 14

 Radar Fundamentals
• Discriminants (the main observables):

• Target Range Discrimination:

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 15

 Radar Fundamentals
• The concept of a pulsed radar:

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 16

 Radar Fundamentals
• Target Range Discrimination

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 17

 Radar Fundamentals
• Target Angle Discrimination

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 18

 Radar Fundamentals
• Velocity Discrimination

• Pulse Doppler radars can measure Doppler shift to obtain

target velocity while still measuring range to target
© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 19
 Radar Fundamentals
• Why Doppler is very important for radar:

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 20

 Radar Fundamentals
• Components of a Basic Pulse Radar System

Shared
Antenna

Duplexer and

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 21

 Radar Fundamentals
• A more detailed look at a basic pulsed Doppler Radar

Duplexer

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 22

 Radar Fundamentals
• Finding the range to a target: The Radar Range Equation

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 23

 Radar Fundamentals
• Signal to Nose Ratio is important for target detection

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 24

 Radar Fundamentals
• Pulsed radar continued:

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 25

 Radar Fundamentals
• Some Basic Pulsed Radar Terminology

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 26

 Radar Fundamentals
• Pulsed Terminology Repeated with some representative numbers

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 27

 Radar Fundamentals Review
• Radar stands for Radio Detection and Ranging
• Radars can be continuous wave or pulsed mode radars
• The Duplexer and Master Timer allows us to use the same
antenna for transmit and receive functions
• The observables for a radar include: range, angles, size,
speed, and features
• Radars calculate distance to a target from the time it takes
for a pulse of EM energy to make a round trip from the
transmitter to the target and back to the receiver
• The received pulse is called the echo. S/N is very important!
• We use Doppler to differentiate target velocity; Doppler
allows us to separate things that are moving from things that
are not moving
© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 28
 Learning Objectives Revisited
At the conclusion of this lesson the student will:
1. Be aware of the history of radar
2. Be familiar with some basic radar concepts
3. Be able to work simple radar problems and answer
questions related to radar fundamentals

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 29

 References

1. Stimson, G. W., Introduction to Airborne Radar, 2nd

Edition, Sci-Tech, 1998
2. Skolnik, M., Introduction to Radar Systems, New York,
McGraw-Hill, 3rd Edition, 2001
3. Nathanson, F. E., Radar Design Principles, New York,
McGraw-Hill, 2nd Edition, 1991
4. Toomay, J. C., Radar Principles for the Non-Specialist,
New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1989
5. Buderi R., The Invention That Changed the World, New
York, Simon and Schuster, 1996

© 2013 by John L. Minor, Unmanned Vehicle University Week 8 - Lecture 1 – Slide # 30