RADAR

AVTE 326
 Introduction

RADAR is an acronym for radio detection and ranging, and it had its origins during the World War II.
Essentially, radar requires that a transmitter emit a signal using a directional antenna toward some
object called the target. The signal reflects from the target (echo) back to the source, where it is
received and interpreted.

Early radars often used signals in the HF and VHF regions of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Microwave signals are common now, however. They can be focused into narrower beams, and they
can detect smaller targets, since the target must be relatively large compared with the wavelength to
provide good reflection. An exception is long-range over-the-horizon radar, which uses frequencies in
the HF Range to take advantage of ionospheric propagation.
 Introduction

● Detection - to ascertain the existence of an object within a certain area; limited to the
technical specifications of the RADAR Design.
● Ranging - to determine the direct distance between the source and the detected object.
 Introduction

● Transmitter - is a piece of equipment used to generate and transmit electromagnetic

waves carrying messages or signals.
● Receiver - is a piece of equipment used to receive radio signals and convert it to a
usable form.
● Antenna - is a piece of equipment used to disperse signals into air and/or absorb
signals from the air.
 Introduction

● Directional Antenna - an antenna which radiates or receives greater power in specific

directions allowing for increased performance and reduced interference from
unwanted sources.
● Omnidirectional Antenna - an antenna which radiates equal radio power in all
directions perpendicular to the source.
 Introduction

● Source - is the origin of the RADAR Signal

● Target - is the object of interest / the detected object
● Echo - is the signal received by a RADAR receiver as reflected from the detected
object.
 Introduction

● HF (High Frequency) - is the ITU designated range of radio frequency electromagnetic

waves between 3 MHz and 30 MHz. It is also known as the decameter band or
decameter wave. (Ionospheric Propagation)
● VHF (Very High Frequency) - is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequencies
from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. (Line-of-sight Propagation)
● Microwaves - is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths ranging from
about one meter to one millimeter to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz
respectively.
 Introduction

● Wavelength - distance between

corresponding points of two
consecutive waves. Usually denoted
by the greek letter lambda (λ)
● Period - amount of time
● Frequency - number of cycles per
unit time.
 Introduction

● Reflection (reflection index) - the ability of a target to reflect radio signals

● Refraction (refraction index) - the ability of a target to reflect radio signals with some
reductions and/or modifications on the signal (ex. Doppler shift : Delta Wavelength or
Delta Frequency)
● Absorption (absorption index) - the ability of a target to absorb radio signal upon
contact.
History
RADAR CATEGORIES
 RADAR Categories

Radar equipment can be divided into two main categories. Pulse Radar works by
transmitting a short burst of microwaves called a pulse, which reflects from the target and
is received at a later time. The time between the transmitted and received pulses gives
distance information (Range). Continuous Wave (CW) radar [Doppler Radar] transmits
continuously and compares the frequency of the received echo with that of the transmitted
signal. Relative motion between the radar and the target can cause a change of frequency
(the Doppler Effect), from which velocity information can be obtained. There are also radars
that combine pulse and Doppler techniques. (To get the Distance and Velocity).
PULSE RADAR
 Pulse RADAR

Determining the direction from the radar antenna to a target can be very simple. Either the
antenna is moved physically, or, in the case of a phased-array antenna, its radiation pattern
is moved electronically. When the received signal is strongest, the main lobe of the antenna
is pointed at the target. The type of antenna and the way in which it is moved depend on the
target characteristics. For instance, radar on a ship intended to locate shoreline features
and other ships need only scan in azimuth (that is, horizontally), while radar on an airplane
designed to track other airplanes has to scan in both azimuth and elevation. The angular
resolution depends on the beamwidth of the antenna.
 Pulse RADAR

● The Celestial Sphere - Imagine the sky as a dome towering above you, its edges resting
on the horizon. This is the backdrop the horizontal coordinate system uses to map the
sky and describe the positions of its objects.
● The Celestial Horizon- The horizontal line separating the two hemispheres is called the
celestial horizon. It is a continuation into space of the imaginary plane created
between you and the horizon around you. If the Earth were flat, the celestial horizon
would follow the terrestrial plane.
 Pulse RADAR

● Direction - a course along which something moves;

a representation of position relative to Earth’s
electromagnetic fields.
● Azimuth - is an angular measurement in a spherical
coordinate system. The vector from an observer to a
point of interest (TARGET) is projected
perpendicularly onto a reference plane; the angle
between the projected vector and a reference vector
on the reference plane is called the azimuth.
 Pulse RADAR

● Elevation/Altitude - The angle the object

makes with the horizon; above the observer’s
horizon. (Observer’s horizon is at zero
degrees)
● Zenith - The point which is exactly 90 degrees
above the observer’s horizon.
● Nadir - The point which is exactly 90 degrees
below the observer’s horizon.
 Pulse RADAR

The distance, or range (denoted as

capital letter R), to the target can be
found by a method analogous to that
used with time-domain reflectometry. A
brief pulse of radio-frequency energy is
emitted, and the time that elapses before
its return is measured. (round trip time).
From this elapsed time, the range can
easily be calculated.
 Pulse RADAR

The measured time is that for a round trip to the target and back, so the one-way distance is
found by dividing by two. Assuming free space propagation,
 Pulse RADAR

● Time Domain Reflectometry - is based on the measurement of the time between

transmission and reception of a radio signal.
● Speed of Light, c - is a universal physical constant that defines how fast light travels in
a vacuum.
 Pulse RADAR

Example No. 1: A pulse sent to a target returns after 15µs. How far away is the target?
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 Pulse Radar

Example No. 2: An object 5km away from a radar station was detected. How much time did
it take for the radar pulse to reach the target?
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 Pulse Radar

It is also important to note that some of the time taken may be time spent by the signal
getting from the electronics to the antenna and back. If significant, this time would have to
be subtracted from the total time to get the time for the signal to travel from the antenna to
the target and back. It is this net time that is called for in example no. 1.

A problem can arise with pulse radar if the period between pulses is less than the time
taken for a pulse to return from the target.
 Pulse Radar

Transmission Modes Review

● Simplex - the communication is unidirectional.

● Half Duplex - transmit / receive at a time
● Full Duplex - transmit / receive at the same time.
Example block diagrams:
 Pulse Radar

There is an ambiguity: the radar cannot distinguish

between this target and a much closer one. This
means that any pulse radar has a maximum
unambiguous range that is limited by the pulse
repetition rate. It is easy to calculate this range: it is
the distance a signal can travel between pulses,
divided by two.
 Pulse Radar

Where:

Rmax = maximum unambiguous range

c = velocity of light

T = pulse period

f = pulse repetition rate

 Pulse Radar

There is another difficulty. The transmitted pulse has a finite pulse duration, also called as
the pulse width. If the echo returns while the pulse is still being transmitted, it will not be
detected by the receiver. The minimum usable range for the radar then, is one-half the
distance the signal can travel during the time it takes to transmit the pulse:
 Pulse Radar

Maximum unambiguous range - range at which data is usable

Pulse Repetition Rate - how many pulses occur in a second?

Pulse Duration - how long is it transmitting?

 Pulse Radar

Example No. 3: A pulse radar emits pulses with a duration of 1µs and a repetition rate of
1kHz. Find the maximum and minimum range for this radar.
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 Pulse Radar

The use of short pulses improves that performance of radar at short range. It also improves
the ability of the system to separate targets that are in the same direction but at different
ranges. Short pulses also result in a lower duty cycle for the transmitter, reducing the
average power requirement for a given pulse power. The disadvantage of short pulses is
that they increase the bandwidth of the signal. A wider signal bandwidth requires a wider
receiver bandwidth, reducing the signal-to-noise ratio, and also increases the congestion of
the spectrum.
Doppler Radar
 Doppler Radar/CW Radar

Pulse radar can measure velocity only in an indirect way: by finding the position of a target
at two different times and calculating how far it has moved in a given time interval. It is
possible to use radar to measure velocity directly, with certain limitations. Radars that do
this use the Doppler effect, which causes the frequency of an echo to differ from that of the
transmitted signal when there is a relative motion between the radar and the target, along a
line joining the two. Motion that closes the gap between source and target raises the
frequency of the reflection, and motion in the other direction reduces it.
 Doppler Radar/CW Radar

Consider a wave from the source impinging on a reflecting plane that is moving towards the
source. As soon as wave front reaches the surface, it reflects. Since the surface is moving
in the opposite direction to that of the wave, peak reaches the surface after a shorter
interval that it would have had the target been stationary. As soon as wave peak reaches
that target, it reflects. Thus, the period of the reflected wave has been reduced. Since the
speed of propagation does not change, this means that the frequency of the reflected wave
has correspondingly increased. A similar logic shows that the frequency of the reflection
will decrease if the target is moving away from the source.
 Doppler Radar/CW Radar

Fd = Doppler Shift in hertz

Vr = relative velocity of the source and the target along a line between them; it
is positive if the two are closing (getting closer)

Fi = incident frequency in hertz

C = velocity of light
 Doppler Radar/CW Radar

Example No. 4: Find the Doppler Shift caused by a vehicle moving toward a radar at 60 mph,
if the radar operates at 10 GHz.
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 Doppler Radar/CW Radar

Doppler radar can measure only the velocity component

along a line that joins the source and the target. This is, of
course, not always that true velocity.

x = component of velocity measured by the radar

y = total velocity / actual velocity
𝜃 = angle between the direction of travel and the direction of a line from the target to the radar
 Doppler Radar/CW Radar

Since the transmitted and received frequencies are different, Doppler radars can use either
CW or pulse techniques. Police speed radars, for instance, are CW. The transmitted and
received signals are separated by a circulator. A small portion of the transmitted signal is
allowed to mix with the received signal to produce a difference signal at the Doppler
frequency. A frequency counter measures this frequency, and the result is converted into a
speed readout in kilometers or miles per hour. Circuitry can also be provided to take the
speed of the vehicle in which that radar is mounted into account, since of course it is the
relative speed between police and target vehicle that is measured by the radar.
 Doppler Radar/CW Radar

When applied to pulse radar, Doppler techniques allow the velocity of a target, as well as its
position and direction, to be estimated. They also allow the elimination of stationary objects
called clutter from the display.
The Radar Equation
 The Radar Equation

Because a radar target does not transmit a signal but merely reflects it, the returning signal
may be quite weak. Its strength is subject to square-law attenuations (inverse square law)
both as it travels to the target and on the return trip to the receiver. Thus, for radar, the
received signal power is inversely proportional to the fourth power of the distance, rather
than the second power as in a normal communications system.
 The Radar Equation

The power of the return signal is also affected by the size, shape, and composition of the
target. Targets are assigned a radar cross section that is defined as the area of a perfectly
conducting flat plate, facing the source, that would reflect the same amount of power
toward the receiver. Since real targets are neither perfect conductors nor flat planes with
the correct orientation, the radar cross section is smaller than the actual cross-sectional
area of the target, as seen from the radar installation.
 The Radar Equation

The information given on the previous slides can be quantified and expressed in a
propagation equation called the radar equation:
 The Radar Equation

Example No. 5: A radar transmitter has a power of 10kW and operates at a frequency of
9.5GHz. Its signal reflects from a target 15km away with a radar cross section of 10.2
square meters. The gain of the antenna is 20dBi. Calculate the received signal power.
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Transponders
 Transponders

Radar echoes are generally simple reflections of the original pulse, not by any means images of
the target. By using narrow beams, frequency sweeps during the pulse and a large amount of
computing power, it is sometimes possible to make some inferences about the target from its
radar signature. In the case of friendly targets, however, the whole process can be made much
more efficient by installing a transmitter-receiver, called a transponder, on the target, usually an
airplane. The transponder responds to a radar pulse by transmitting a signal that can identify
the aircraft, even down to its flight number and destination. In the case of military aircraft,
transponders are part of an “identification friend or foe” (IFF) system designed to prevent
friendly aircraft from being attacked.
Stealth
 Stealth

There are times when it would be better for an airplane not to appear on radar, for example,
if the airplane is military and the radar belongs to an enemy anti-aircraft battery. The
techniques for avoiding detection by radar are collectively known as stealth, and the details
are of course kept secret. Still, the general ideas behind stealth are well known and easily
understood.
 Stealth

The two basic ways of escaping radar detection are, first, to absorb radar waves rather than
reflect them, and second, to scatter any reflected signals as widely as possible to avoid
returning a strong signal to the hostile radar. Achieving the first result involves the use of
resistive materials in the body of the aircraft; sharp angeles help to achieve the second.

In practice, stealth also involves reducing the heat signature of the aircraft, since some
missiles use the hot exhaust gas from a jet engine to track their target.
Conversions
 Conversions

● Metric System
● English System
○ Statute Mile
○ Nautical Mile
○ Radar Mile
 Conversion Factors

● English Conversion Factors to Remember

○ 1 st. mi : 5280 ft.
○ 1 nmi : 6076 ft.
○ 1 Rmi : 2000 yds.
○ 1 yd : 3 ft
○ 1 ft : 12 in

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