Introduction to RADAR

Systems
DR. MAHRUKH LIAQAT
2

Textbook

 Principles of Modern Radar: Basic Principles

by Mark A. Richards, James A. Scheer,
Williams A. Holm (Editors)
 Outline
Radar Overview and Fundamental Concepts 3 hrs
Radar Range Equation 5 hrs
Overview of Detection in Interference 3 hrs
Propagation Effects and Mechanisms 3 hrs
Characteristics of Clutter 3 hrs
Target Reflectivity and Fluctuation Models 3 hrs
Doppler Phenomena and Data Acquisition 4 hrs
Radar Subsystems 2 hrs
Digital Signal Processing fundamentals for Radar 5 hrs
Threshold Detection of Radar Targets 3 hrs
Constant False Alarm Rate Detectors 5 hrs
Doppler Processing 6 hrs
Radar Measurements, Radar Tracking Algorithms, Fundamentals of Pulse Compression Waveforms and 3 hrs
Radar Imaging
3
EE-491 Radar Systems (Spring 2020) Chapter 1
LMS Enrollment Code
Radar Concepts
6

Basic Concept of Radar

Radar Concept-Subsystems
A radar is an electrical system that transmits
radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic (EM) waves toward a
region of interest and receives and detects these EM
waves when reflected back from objects in that region.
MAJOR SUBSYSTEMS
 Transmitter
 Antenna
 Receiver
 Signal Processor
RADAR Concept-Transmission/Reception
 Radar Concept-Major Subsystems
Subsystem that generates the EM waves is the transmitter.
The antenna is the subsystem that takes as input these EM waves from the transmitter and introduces them
into the propagation medium. The transmitter is connected to the antenna through a transmit/receive (T/R)
device
The radar receive antenna receives the EM waves that are “reflected” from an object.
The portion of the signal reflected from the object that propagates back to the radar antenna is “captured”
by the antenna and applied to the receiver circuits.
Receiver components- SUPERHYDRODYNE
 Amplifier
 RF to IF convertor
 Analog to digital

Signal processor
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Advantages of Radar

 Long Range
 1000’s of kms
 All weather and day/night operation
 Wide area search capability
 Simultaneous reliable target detection and rejection of
unwanted “clutter” objects
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History

 1886: Hertz demonstrated reflection of radio waves

 1900: Tesla described a concept for electromagnetic detection and
velocity measurement in an interview
 1922: Taylor and Yong of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)
demonstrated ship detection by radar.
 1930: Hyland first detected aircraft by radar.
 1934: U.S. patent for a continuous wave (CW) radar filed

Radar development driven by military necessity. Military was the

primary user and developer of radar technology
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History

 1935: First pulsed radar developed by U.K.

 1936: Pulsed radar developed by U.S. at NRL
 1938: U.K. developed Chain Home surveillance radar (used in WWII)
 1938: SCR-268 antiaircraft fire control system developed by U.S.
 1939: First airborne interceptor radar developed by U.K.
 1939: SCR-270 early earning system developed by U.S.
 1940s: Cooperation b/w US and UK led to development of radar at microwave
frequencies

 Now radar is used for a range of military (and civilian) applications

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Chain Home Radar (21 Sites)

 Timely warning of direction and size of

German aircraft attacks
 Allowed Britain to focus their limited
number of interceptor aircraft
 Germany was unable to achieve Air
superiority
 Invasion of Great Britain was
postponed indefinitely
 Radar Concept- Range
The range, R, to a detected target can be determined based on
the time, T , it takes the EM waves to propagate to that target and
back at the speed of light.

Find the distance to a radar target (in meters) for the

following round-trip delay times:
a)12 μs
RADAR Concepts-Radar Band
Radar Frequency band
Typical Use
Physics of EM Waves
Wavelength-distance from any point on the sinusoid to the next corresponding
point
Time period- period is the time it takes the EM wave to go through one cycle

Frequency- the inverse of the period is the number of cycles the wave goes
through in 1 second. This quantity is the wave’s frequency, f

The wavelength and frequency of an EM wave are not independent;

their product is the speed of light (c in free space)
 Physics of EM Waves
The amplitude of the x or y component of the electric field of an
electromagnetic wave propagating along the z-axis can be represented
mathematically as
 Superposition (Interference)
The principle of superposition states

“when two or more waves having the same frequency are present
at the same place and the same time, the resultant wave is the
complex sum, or superposition, of the waves.”

This complex sum depends on the amplitudes and phases of the

waves.
Superposition of Waves

two in-phase waves - constructive interference

two out-of-phase waves - destructive
interference
Intensity
The intensity, Q, of the EM wave is power (time-rate-of-change of energy) per
unit area of the propagating wave.
intensity is equivalent to power density (watts per square meter)
INTERACTION OF EM WAVES WITH
MATTER
The EM waves that a radar transmits and receives interact with matter, specifically, the
radar’s antenna, then the atmosphere, and then with the target.
The relevant physical principles governing these interactions are
 Diffraction (antenna)
 Attenuation, refraction (atmosphere);

 Reflection (target).
BASIC RADAR CONFIGURATIONS
Monostatic versus Bistatic

Monostatic configuration- one antenna serves both the

transmitter and receiver.
 more practical design
 isolation is provided by a T/R device, such as a circulator or switch

Bi-static configuration- separate antennas for the transmit and

receive radar functions
 Provides separation between transmitter and receiver
 capability of detecting stealth targets
 Monostatic versus Bistatic
 If the two antennas are very close then the
system is considered to be monostatic.

 The system is considered to be bistatic only if

there is sufficient separation between the two
antennas such that the angles or ranges to the
target are sufficiently different.
 Continuous Wave versus Pulsed
 Continuous Wave(CW)
 With the CW waveform the transmitter is continually transmitting a signal, usually without
interruption.
 Tx and Rx are continuously operating.
 Employ the bi-static configuration to effect transmitter/ receiver isolation
 Determination of the transmitted EM wave’s round-trip time and target range is achieved by
changing the characteristics of the wave (e.G., Changing the wave’s frequency over time)

 Relatively low power and short-range application.

 Police speed-timing radars, altimeters, and proximity fuses
Pulsed Waveform
 Pulsed radars transmit EM waves during a very short time duration , No
received signals can be detected during this time
 The isolation provided by the T/R device
 During the time between transmitted pulses, allowing it to receive any
EM waves (echoes) that may have been reflected from objects in the
environment.
 This “listening” time plus the pulse width represents one pulsed radar
cycle time, normally called the inter pulse period (IPP) or pulse repetition
interval (PRI).
Pulsed Waveform
 Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF)
The number of transmit/receive cycles the radar completes per second is called
the pulse repetition frequency (PRF)

 measured in pulses per second (PPS), often expressed in hertz (cycles per
second).The PRF and PRI are related according to
Pulsed Waveform
Pulse Width and Duty Cycle The fraction of time the transmitter is transmitting during
one radar cycle is called the transmit duty factor (or duty cycle), dt

The average power, Pavg, of the transmitted EM wave is given by the product of the peak
transmitted power, Pt, and the transmit duty factor
Pulsed Waveform
Range Sampling
 Because the time scale is continuous, a target signal can arrive at the radar receiver at any
arbitrary time, with infinitesimal time resolution.
 The received signal is normally sampled at discrete time intervals,
using an ADC- quantizes the signal in time and amplitude

 To achieve detection, the time between

samples must be no more than a pulse width, while
Oversampling is preferred.
 Pulsed Waveform
Unambiguous Range Measurement
the unambiguous range, Rua, is the maximum range at which the range to a target can be measured
unambiguously
Recall that target range is determined by measuring the delay time from transmission of a
pulse to reception of the reflected signal.
Problems can occur in a pulsed radar when determining the range to targets if the pulse round-trip
travel time, between the radar and the distant target is greater than the interpulse period, IPP
Echo signal doesn’t return within listening time
 Time ambiguity and related range ambiguity
Pulsed Waveform
Range ambiguities can be avoided by ensuring that the inter pulse period, PRI, is long
enough that all echoes of interest from a given pulse return to the radar receiver

the unambiguous range, Rua, is the maximum range at which the range to a target can be
measured unambiguously is given by
Noncoherent versus Coherent
noncoherent system detects only the amplitude of the received signal,
coherent system detects the amplitude and phase,
The Doppler Shift
 Doppler Shift If there is relative motion between the radar and the target, then the
frequency of the EM wave reflected from the target and received by the radar will be
different from the frequency of the wave transmitted from the radar
 The Doppler frequency shift, fd

◦ vr is the radial component of the target’s velocity vector toward the radar
◦ λ is the wavelength of the transmitted EM wave
 Valid when radial component of velocity of the target is much less than the speed of light.
 Positive-moving towards Negative – moving away
 Unambiguous Doppler Frequency
 the maximum range of Doppler shift frequencies that can be unambiguously measured is

 maximizing unambiguous range  lower PRFs

 maximizing unambiguous Doppler shift higher PRFs.
 No single PRF can meet both of these opposing requirements.

 Three different PRF regimes:

 low PRF,
 medium PRF
 high PRF
NOISE, SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO AND
DETECTION
Thermal Noise
 Because of random thermal motion of charged particles, all objects in the universe
with a temperature above absolute zero will be radiating EM waves at
all frequencies called thermal noise.

 Thermal noise is always present at the radar’s receiving antenna and compete with
the reflected EM waves from the target.

 internally generated noise usually dominates over the noise from the environment
threshold detection
 Threshold Detection
 At any given time the noise alone can “spike up” and cross the amplitude threshold,
giving rise to some probability that there will be a false alarm

 at any given time it can drop below the amplitude threshold, resulting in some
probability that the target-plus-noise signal will not be detected
 the detection performance of a radar must be given in terms of probabilities, usually
 probability of detection
 probability of false alarm
The ratio of the target signal power to noise power is referred to as the signal-to-
noise ratio
Threshold Detection
RADAR Functions
 Detect/ Search

 Track
After detection, measuring target state, i.e. range, azimuth angle and elevation
angle.
Target states are measured as a function of time
 Imaging
Refers to obtainment of information
◦ 1) developing high resolution range profile of target
◦ 2) developing high resolution angular profile of target
Basic RADAR Measurements
Application of RADAR System
 Air Traffic Control
 Aircraft Navigation
 Ship Safety
 Space
 Remote Sensing
 Law enforcement
 Miltary