BASICS OF RADAR – MODULE 1

• Introduction
• Maximum unambiguous Range
• Radar Block diagram and operation
• Simple form of the radar equation
• Radar frequencies and Applications
• Prediction of range performance
• Minimum Detectable signal
• Receiver Noise
• Modified Radar Range equation
• Illustrative problems
 RADAR is an Acronym for
RAdio Detection And Ranging
Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine
the range, angle, or velocity of objects. It can be
used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles,motor
vehicles, weather formations, and terrain.

A radar system consists of a transmitter producing

electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a
transmitting antenna, a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is
used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to
determine properties of the object(s).

FUNCTIONS OF RADAR
• Detects the presence of target
• Gives the range of the target from the Radar station
• Gives the azimuth angle and elevation angle of the target
• Gives the radial velocity of target.

PRINCIPLE OF WORKING

Two basic radar systems exist

1. Monostatic
2. Bistatic
 Measurement of Range

PRF: The no of radar pulses transmitted per second is known as pulse

repetition frequency or
pulse repetition rate.
PRT: The time from beginning of first pulse to the beginning of the next

is called pulse repetition time.

--Time taken by EM pulse to travel to target and come back to same
antenna
R- range of target
C –Velocity of EM waves = 3 x 108 Meters/sec
Rest Time or Receiver Time : The time between two successive
transmitted pulse is called as Rest Time or Receiver Time

Radar range determination

• The most common radar waveform is a train of narrow, rectangular-

shape
pulses modulating a sine wave carrier.
• The distance, or range, to the target is determined by measuring the time
TR
taken by the pulse to travel to the target and return.
• Electromagnetic energy in free space travels with the speed of light c (
3x
108 m/s) therefore range R is given by : R= cTR / 2
• The range R in kilometers or nautical miles, and TR in microseconds,
the
above relation becomes: R(km) = 0.15 X TR ( µS ) or R(nmi) =
0.081 X TR ( µS )
• Each microsecond of round-trip travel time corresponds to a distance
of
0.081 nautical mile, 0.093 statute mile, 150 meters, 164 yards, or 492
feet.
• ( 1 mile = 0.8689 nautical mile or 1.6 km
1 nautical mile = 1.15078 miles or 1.8412 km )
• It takes 12.35 µs for radar signal to travel a nautical mile and back
 Maximum unambiguous range

• Once signal is transmitted into space by a radar, sufficient time must

elapse to allow all echo signals to return to the radar before the next pulse
is transmitted .
• The rate which pulses may be transmitted is determined by the longest
range at which the target is expected.
• If the time between the pulses is too short, the echo signal from target
may arrive after the next pulse transmitted and it leads to incorrect
or
ambiguous measurement of the range.
• The echoes that arrive after the transmission of next
pulse are called
second time around echoes or second return echoes.
• The maximum range from which a transmitted radar pulse can be
reflected
and received before the next pulse is transmitted.
or
the range beyond which targets appear as second time around
echoes is
called the maximum unambiguous range.

• Rmax is the farthest target range that can be detected by a Radar without
ambiguity and is also called Maximum Unambiguous Range of the Radar.
Since PRF fP= 1/TP It is also given by :

Run or Rmax = CTP/2 = C/2fP

• If the range of target is more than the Maximum Unambiguous Range,

multiple
time around echoes occur and range computed would be erroneous.
 The first transmitted pulse, after being reflected from the target
in 200 km, is received by the radar before the second pulse is
transmitted. There will be no ambiguity here as the reflected pulse can
be easily identified as a reflection of the first pulse. But in same Figure,
we notice that the reflection of a target of the first pulse is received after
the second pulse has been transmitted (in range of 400 km). This causes
some confusion since the radar, without any additional information,
cannot determine whether the received signal is a reflection of the first
pulse or of the second pulse. This leads to an ambiguity in determining
the range, this received echo signal be mistaken as a short-range echo
of the next cycle.
Therefore maximum unambiguous range Rmax is the maximum range for which
t < T.
Rmax = c0 · (T - τ)/2 where Rmax = Unambiguous Range in [m]
c0 = Speed of light [3·108 m/s]
T = Pulse Repetition Time [sec]
τ = length of the transmitted pulse
 The simple form of the radar equation

• The radar equation Relates the range of a Radar to the characteristics

of the
transmitter, receiver, antenna, target, and environment.
• It is useful not only for determining the maximum range, but it can serve
for
understanding the factors affecting radar performance.

Limitations:

• Does not adequately describe the performance of practical radar.

• Many important factors that affect range are not explicitly included.
• In practice, the observed maximum radar ranges are usually much smaller
than what would be predicted by the above equations, sometimes by as
much as a factor of two.
There are many reasons for the failure of the simple radar equation to correlate
with actual performance and these will be explained subsequently in the
modified Radar range equation .

Radar block diagram

There are two sections of Radar shown in the block diagram is

radar called monostatic Radar since same
1. Transmitter section antenna is used for transmission and
reception.
2. Receiver section
 Transmitter section
• Transmitter : the transmitter may be a power amplifier such as klystron,
travelling wave tube or transistor amplifier. This will generates the Electrical
energy at R.F.(Radio Frequency).
• Pulse modulator : The power amplifier (Such as Klystron, TWT) produces
a high power signal, may be in terms of megawatts. Pulse modulator shown
in the block is used as a switch, which will turn on and off the power
amplifier.
• Wave form generator: A low power signal is produced by the waveform
generator which is given as an input to the power amplifier.
• Duplexer: The duplexer allows a single antenna to be used on a time
shared basis for both transmitting and receiving. The duplexer is generally
a gaseous device that produces a short circuit at the input to the receiver
when the transmitter is operating, so that high power flows to the antenna
and not to the receiver. On the reception, the duplexer directs echo signal
to the receiver and not to the transmitter. Solid state ferrite circulators and
receiver protector devices can also be part of the duplexer

Receiver section:

• Low noise RF amplifier: The receiver is almost always a super heterodyne.

LNA is used immediately after the antenna. This reduces the Noise Figures
and produces the RF pulse proportional to the transmitted signal.
• Mixer and local oscillator: It converts the RF signal to an intermediated
frequency
where it is amplified by the IF amplifier. The IF frequency might be 30 or 60
MHz.
• IF amplifier:
i) It amplifies the IF pulse.
ii) IF amplifier is designed as a matched filter which maximizes the output
peak signal to mean noise ratio.
iii) The matched filter maximizes the detectability of weak echo signals
and
attenuates unwanted signals.
iv) The signal bandwidth of super heterodyne receiver is determined by
the
bandwidth of its IF stage.
v) For example when pulse width is of the order of 1µs the IF bandwidth
would
be about 1MHz.
• Second Detector: the IF amplifier followed by a crystal diode which is
called the second detector or demodulator. Its purpose is to assist in
extracting the echo signal modulation from the carrier. It is called as
2ndDetector since it is the second diode used in the chain. The first diode
is used in the mixer. Output of the 2ndDetector is the Video Pulse.
• Video amplifier: It is designed to provide the sufficient amplification to rise
the level of the input signal to a magnitude where it can be diplay (CRT or
Digital computer).
• Threshold decision: The output of video amplifier is given to the threshold
detector where it is decided whether the received signal is from a target or
just because of the presence of noise.
• Display: The Display is generally a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube)
(a) ‘A’ scope (b) PPI
i) ’A’ scope provided Range and Echo power.
ii) PPI measures Range and bearing (azimuth angles)
iii) In addition there are other displays like ‘B’ scope, ‘ D ‘ scope etc.

(a) PPI presentation displaying Range vs. Angle (intensity

modulation)
(b) A-scope presentation displaying Amplitude vs. Range
(deflection modulation)
 RADAR FREQUENCIES

• RF spectrum is very scarce and as such Radars are allotted only a certain
frequency bands for their operation by International Telecom Union ITU
• During 2ndworld war, to keep the secrecy, certain code words were used.
The same designations are continued even today
• Lima Band (L) 1GHZ-2GHZ, Sierra band(S) 2GHZ-4GHZ, Charlie Band
(C) 4GHZ-8GHZ, X ray Band (X) 8GHZ-12GHZ
• ITU(International Telecommunication Union) allocated a portion of these
bands for Radar

ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
Standard radar-frequency letter-band nomenclature

FIELDS OF APPLICATION

• MILITARY
• REMOTE SENSING
• AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
• LAW ENFORCEMENT AND HIGHWAY
• SECURITY
• AIRCRAFT SAFETY AND NAVIGATION
• SHIP SAFETY
• SPACE

• MISCELLANEOUS APPLICATIONS
 MILITARY:
• Important part of air defence system, operation of offensive missiles & other
weapons.
• Target detection, target tracking & weapon control .
• Also
• used in area, ground & air surveillance.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL
• Used to safely control air traffic in the vicinity of the airports and enroute.
• Ground vehicular traffic & aircraft taxing.
• Mapping of regions of rain in the vicinity of airports & weather.
LAW ENFORCEMENT & HIGHWAY SAFETY:
• Radar speed meters are used by police for enforcing speed limits.
• It is used for warning of pending collision, actuating air bag or
warning of obstruction or people behind a vehicle or in the side blind
zone

REMOTE SENSING
• Weather observation-t.V.Reporting
• Planetary observation
• Below ground probing
• Mapping of sea ice
AIRCRAFT SAFETY & NAVIGATION
• Low flying military aircrafts rely on terrain avoidance & terrain following
radars to avoid
collision with high terrain & obstrucions
SHIP SAFETY
• Radar is found on ships & boats for collision avoidance & to observe
navigation buoys, when the visibility is poor.
• Shore based radars are used for surveillance of harbours & river traffic.
 SPACE
• Space vehicles have used radar for clocking & for landing on the
moon.
• Used for planetary exploration.
• Ground based radars are used for detection & tracking of satellites &
other space objects.
• Used for radio astronomy.
OTHER APPLICATIONS
• It is used for in industry for the non contact measurement of speed &
distance.
• Used for oil & gas exploration.
• Used to study movements of insects & birds.

PREDICTION OF RANGE PERFORMANCE

The simple form of the radar equation derived earlier expresses the maximum
radar range Rmax in terms of radar and target parameters:

Rmax = [ (Pt .G. Ae. σ)/ (4π)2. Smin ]1/4

where Pt = transmitted power, watts

G = antenna gain
Ae = antenna effective aperture, m2
σ = radar cross section, m2
Smin = minimum detectable signal, watts

All the parameters are to some extent under the control of the radar
designer, except for the target cross section σ.
The radar equation states that if long ranges are desired,
1. The transmitted power must be large,
2. The radiated energy must be concentrated into a narrow
beam (high transmitting antenna gain),
3. The received echo energy must be collected with a large antenna
aperture (also synonymous with high gain) and
4. The receiver must be sensitive to weak signals.

In practice, however, the simple radar equation does not predict

the range performance of actual radars. The predicted values of
radar range are usually optimistic. In some cases the actual range
might be only half of that is predicted.

The failure of the simple form of radar equation is due to

1. The statistical nature of the minimum detectable signal
determined by receiver noise.
2. Fluctuations and uncertainty in radar cross-section.

3. The losses throughout the radar system.

4. Propagation effects caused by the earth’s surface and atmosphere.
Because of statistical nature of receiver noise and target cross
section, the
maximum radar range is described probabilistically rather than single
number.

Therefore the radar range equation includes

1. Probability that radar will detect a target at a particular range(pd).
2. Probability of making a false detection when no target is present(pfa).

From the above facts it can be concluded that the range of radar is a
function of probability of detection(pd) and probability of false alarm(pfa).
The prediction of radar range is not accurate as there is uncertainty in
various parameters. Still radar range equation is an important tool for i)
Assessing the performance of radar ii) Generating technical requirements
and Determining system tradeoffs for designing new radar systems.
 MINIMUM DETECTABLE SIGNAL

• The ability of a radar receiver to detect a weak echo signal is limited by

the noise present in the frequency spectrum.
• The weakest signal that the receiver can detect is called the minimum
detectable signal. It is difficult to define what is minimum detectable
signal (MDS) because of its statistical nature and the criterion for
deciding whether a target is present or not may not be too well defined.
• Detection is normally based on establishing a threshold level at the
output of the receiver (as shown by the dotted line ). Whenever Rx
output signal which is a mixture of echo and noise crosses this threshold
then it is detected as a target. This is called threshold detection.
• Consider the output of a typical radar receiver as a function of time as
shown in the figure below which typically represents one sweep of the
video output displayed on an A-scope.

Fig : Typical envelope of a radar receiver output as a function of

time. A, B, and C are three targets representing signal plus noise.
A and B are valid detections, but C is a missed detection

1. If the threshold level were set properly, the signal would not generally
exceed the threshold if noise alone were present, but would exceed it
if a strong signal were present along with the noise.
2. If the threshold level is set too low, noise might exceed it and be mistaken for
a target. This is called a false alarm.
 3. If the threshold level were set too high, noise might not be large
enough to cause false alarms, but weak target echoes might not
exceed the threshold and would not be detected. This is called
missed detection.
4. Here points A,B and C represents signal plus noise.
5. The signal at A is large which has a much larger amplitude than the
noise. Hence target detection is possible without any difficulty and
ambiguity.
6. Next 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 and target detection is still possible. Thus the presence of
noise will sometimes enhance the detection of weak signals.
7. But ,for the target C , the noise is not as large and the resultant signal
plus noise
does not cross the threshold and hence target is not detected.

• Threshold Level setting: Weak signals such as C would not be lost if the
threshold level were lower. But too low threshold causes false alarms. If the
threshold is set too low, false target indications are obtained, but if it is set
too high, targets might be missed. The selection of the proper threshold level
is necessary to avoid the mistakes of

1. Failing to recognize a signal that is present (missed detection) or

2. Falsely indicating the presence of a signal when it does not exist (false
alarm)

The signal-to-noise ratio is a better measure of a radar’s

detection performance that the minimum detectable signal.
 RECEIVER NOISE

• Noise is an unwanted EM energy which interferes with the ability of the

receiver to detect the wanted signal thus limiting the receiver sensitivity.

• It may originate within the receiver itself or it may enter via the receiving
antenna along with the desired signal.

• If the radar were to operate in a perfectly noise free environment so that no

external noise accompany the target signal.

• If the receiver itself were so perfect that it didn’t generate any excess
noise, there would be still be noise generated by the thermal motion of
the conduction electrons in the ohmic portion of the receiver i/p stages.
This is called Thermal noise or Johnson noise.

RADAR EQUATION

• SNR
• Envelop Detector
• False Alarm time and Probability
• Integration of Radar Pulses
• Radar Cross Section of Targets (simple targets: sphere and cone
sphere)
• Transmitter Power
• PRF and Range Ambiguities
• System Losses (qualitative treatment)
 SNR

• Signal to noise ratio is very important as far as radar is concerned.

Because
presence of target or not have small difference.
• Statistical noise theory will be applied to obtain S/N at the o/p of the
IF amplifier necessary to achieve a specified prob of detection and
prob of false alarm.

• Envelope Detector:

• Consider an IF amplifier with bandwidth followed by a second detector

and a
video amplifier with bandwidth

• The second detector and video amplifier are assumed to form an

envelope detector, that is one which rejects the carrier freq but
passes the modulation envelop.
• To extract the modulation envelope, the video bandwidth must be
wide enough to pass the low freq components generated by the
second detector but no so wide as to pass the high frequency
components at or near the IF.
• The video bandwidth must be greater than in order to pass
all video modulation.
 Radar Cross Section of Targets

• A radar cross section is defined as the ratio of its effective isotropic scattered
power
to the incident power density.

σ =

where R = distance between radar and target

Er = strength of reflected field at radar
Ei = strength of incident field at target

• The radar cross section depends on the characteristic dimensions of

the object compared to the radar wavelength.

RCS of Simple Targets:

Sphere: A perfectly conducting sphere acts a isotropic radiator i.e. Incident

radiation
scattered in all directions.

The radar cross section of the sphere is characterized into three regions

1. Rayleigh region :When the wavelength is large compared to the

object’s
dimensions is said to be Rayleigh region.

2. Optical region :When the wavelength is small compared

to the object’s dimensions is said to be Optical region.

3. Resonance region : In between the Rayleigh and Optical regions is the

Resonance region where the radar wavelength is comparable to the
objects
dimensions.

For many objects the radar cross section is larger in the

resonance region than in the other two regions.
 Fig: Radar cross section of a sphere as a function of
circumference ( ) measured in wavelength

• Cone sphere: It is a cone whose base is capped with a sphere. A large cross
section
occurs when a radar views the cone perpendicular to its surface.
 PRF and Range Ambiguities

• The pulse repetition frequency (prf) is determined primarily by the

maximum range at which
targets are expected.

• Echo signals that arrive at a time later than the pulse repetition
period are known as second time around echoes or multiple time
around echoes. These echoes may cause error and confusion. Also
it can mask unambiguous target echoes at shorter ranges.
• Pulse Doppler radars have usually problem of range ambiguities
because of prf.
• Consider the three targets located at three different positions A,B and C
• Target A is located within the maximum unambiguous range
Runamb [= C.TP /2] of the radar, target B is at a distance greater
than Runamb but less than 2Runamb and the target C is greater
than 2Runamb but less than 3Runamb

• The appearance of the three targets on an A-scope is shown below.

The ambiguous echoes B and C looks very similar to unambiguous

range echo A. Out of these three echoes only the range of A is correct ,for
B and C are not correct.

• The ambiguous range echoes are recognized by changing the prf of the
radar. When the prf is changed the unambiguous echo remains at its true
range. Ambiguous range echoes appear at different apparent ranges for
each prf shown in below fig
 • Let if prf has unambiguous range and the range corresponds
to it is then the true range is given by

or
or
• Let if prf has unambiguous range and the range corresponds
to it is then the true range is given by

or
or

The correct range is same for two prfs. Thus two or

more prfs can be used to correct range ambiguity with increased
accuracy and avoiding false values.

System Losses

The losses within the radar system is called system losses. The
losses in a
radar system reduce the signal-to-noise ratio at the receiver output.
1. Microwave plumbing losses : There is always loss in the transmission line
that connects the antenna to the transmitter and receiver. In addition there
can be loss in the various microwave components, such as duplexer,
receiver protector, rotary joints, directional couplers, transmission
line connectors, bends in the transmission lines and the mismatch at
the antenna.
a) Transmission line losses: Generally same transmission line used for
both transmission and reception , the loss to be inserted in the radar eq is
twice the one way loss. At lower radar frequencies, the transmission line
introduces little loss. At higher radar frequencies attenuation may not be
small and may have to be taken in account. In practical the transmitter and
receiver should be placed close to the antenna to keep the transmission
line loss small.
b) Duplexer loss: the loss due to a gas duplexer that protects the receiver
from the high power of the transmitter is generally different on transmission
and reception. It also depends on the type of duplexer used.
• In an S-band (3000 MHz) radar, for example, the plumbing losses might be
as follows:

100 ft of RG-113/U A1 waveguide 1.0 dB

transmission line (two-way) :
Duplexer loss : 2.0 dB
Loss due to poor connections (estimate) : 0.3 dB
Rotary-joint loss : 0.8 dB
Other RF devices : 0.4dB
Total plumbing loss : 4.5 dB

2. Antenna losses:
a) Beam shape loss: In radar equation antenna gain is assumed as
constant at its maximum value but in practice as a search antenna
scans across a target, it does not offer its peak gain to all echo pulses.
When the system integrates several echo pulses maximum antenna
gain occurs when the peak of antenna beam is in direction of target.
 b) Scanning loss:
When a radar antenna scans rapidly compared to round trip time
of the echo signal, the antenna gain may not be same for transmission
and while receiving of echoes. This results in the direction of additional
loss called the Scanning loss.
The scanning loss is most significant in long range scanning radars,
such as
space surveillance and ballistic missile defense radars.

c) Radome:
The loss introduced by radome is decided by its type and
operating frequency. A commonly used ground based metal space
frame radome offers a loss of 1.2dB for two way transmission.
d) Phased array losses:
Some phased array radars have additional transmission line
losses due to the distribution network that connects the receiver and
transmitter to multiple elements of array. These losses reduces antenna
power gain.

3. Signal Processing Losses:

For detecting targets in clutters and in extraction information from the
radar echo signals is very important and lossless signal processing is
necessary. Various losses accounted during signal processing are
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