Radar Systems

Objective:
Gain knowledge in range detection and velocity and Doppler measurements.

Outcomes:
1. Understand the basic concepts and measurements, radar equation.
2. Describe Matched filter detection, Target effects on detection

Covered Topics:

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 Radar Systems

PART ONE: Pulse Radar System

Basics of Pulse Radar
System
This Radar radiates repetitive series of rectangular short pulses. The time between the transmitted and
received pulses gives distance information. Direction, distance and sometimes if necessary the height or
altitude of the target can be determined from the measured antenna position and propagation time of the
pulse-signal.

A practical pulse radar system requires the following units:

[Link]: The radar transmitter performs the following two main processes;
− Generates short pulses, and modulates them to form the RF (high frequency) pulse train.
− Amplify the RF pulses to a high power level to be suitable for radiation via the antenna, and
propagation for long distance because they have high frequency and high power.

The source of the carrier wave could be a Klystron, Travelling Wave Tube (TWT) or Magnetron. Each
has its own characteristics and limitations.

[Link]: The main process done by the radar receiver is to detect the presence of the echo signal
and extract information in the presence of noise. In order to provide the greatest range, the receiver must
be very sensitive without introducing excessive noise. The ability to discriminate a received signal from
background noise depends on the signal – to – noise ratio (S/N). NOTE: more details about radar
receivers will be covered in the radar block diagram.

[Link] SUPPLY: The power supply provides the electrical power for all the components. The
largest consumer of power is the transmitter which may require several kW of average power.

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4. DUPLEXER: Duplexer is an electronic switch that allow a single antenna to serve both transmitter
and the receiver. A duplexer unit in pulse radar performs the
following function:
− During the period of transmission, duplexer must
connect the antenna to the transmitter and disconnect it
from the receiver.
− The receiver must be thoroughly isolated from the
transmitter during the transmission of the high power
pulse to avoid damage to sensitive
receiver components.
− After transmission, the duplexer must rapidly
disconnect the transmitter and connect the receiver to
the antenna. For targets close to the radar to be seen, the
Figure: Operation of Duplexer.
action of duplexer must be extremely rapid.

The duplexer perform the abovementioned operations through built in circulator. Circulator routes
microwave signals from one port of the device to another. The important specifications of a circulator
are:
− Insertion loss: The loss of signal as it travels in the right direction should be very small (typically
0.5 dB)
− Directivity: The loss in the signal as it travel in the wrong direction should be very high (Typically
20 dB)

Figure: operation of radar circulator device

5. ANTENNA: The antenna in a pulse radar takes the pulse train from the transmitter and puts them into
the air as an EM wave (radiation). Also, the same antenna receives the back scattered echo signal from
the target, and converts it back to electrical signal. The radar antenna should be highly directive and has

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 Radar Systems

a large gain so that it can radiate a strong signal and receive a weak pulse. Parabolic dish antenna and
array antenna are most widely used antenna in the pulse radar systems.

[Link]: Radar display (indicator) unit uses the received signal output from the radar receiver to
produce a visual indication of target information. Radar display unit also provides the information about
size, shape and indications of the type of targets.

Various types of display units are used with different radar systems depending on the different
applications. Examples of two common displays are:
I. A-Scope Display
II. Plan Position Indicator (PPI)

I. A-Scope Display: A-scope display indicates the range of target and strength of the echo. Operation
of A-scope display is similar to the ordinary oscilloscope (Amplitude vs Time Delay). A-scope
display provides target signal amplitude vs range (time delay) information. Any strong spike on
display after the transmitted pulse indicates the presence of target.

 Limitations of A-Scope Display: A-scope display only indicates the range of the target not its
direction therefore only returned echoes from direction are displayed.
 Application: A-scope display mainly used for tracking.

II. Plan Position Indicator (PPI): PPI is an intensity modulated map like circular display that gives
target location in polar coordinates. The range of target is represented
by the radial distance from the center.
Target azimuth angle is given by the angle from the top of display usually
true north, clockwise. The PPI is perhaps the most natural display for
the operator and therefore the most widely used.

In both cases (A-Scope & PPI), the synchronizer resets the trace for each pulse
so that the range information will begin at the origin.

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 Limitations of PPI
1. In PPI display distortion of true map position will occur if it is used on an aircraft and its antenna is
not pointing straight down.
2. The PPI display system is expensive compare of other display.

7. SYNCHRONIZER: The Synchronizer coordinates the timing for range determination. It regulates the
rate at which pulses are sent (i.e sets PRF) and resets the timing clock for range determination for each
pulse. Signals from the synchronizer are sent simultaneously to the transmitter, which sends a new pulse,
and to the display which resets the return sweep.

Pulse Radar Block

Diagram
The following figure shows an extended block diagram of the above with the internal components of the
receiver given more clearly.

Figure: Main components of radar systems

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Operation of Pulse Radar Receiver:

The SUPERHETERODYNE receiver is widely used in radars because of its sensitivity and high gain.
The main RF characteristics of a receiver are sensitivity, selectivity, bandwidth, and noise immunity.
The receiver performs the following functions:
1. Amplifies weak echoes to a level that can be detected by the detector circuit.
2. Reduces noise from the target echo signal.
3. Sends the amplified signal to the signal processing unit for detection and display.
Superheterodyne receivers down convert the frequency of the received RF signal into its original low
frequency band (baseband signal) in two steps as follows;
4. First, the received RF signal frequency band is down converted into intermediate frequency (IF)
band with the help of Mixer and Local Oscillator circuits. The IF signal if filtered using BPF filter,
and amplified significantly using multi-stages amplifiers.
5. Then, the IF frequency band is again down converted to its original frequency band using Detector
circuit.
NOTE: heterodyning is a process that shift signals, via Mixer circuit, from one frequency range to
another.

Figure: Basic elements of superheterodyne radar receiver.

Function and Operation of Pulse Radar Receiver Units:

Low Noise Amplifier: A low noise amplifier (LNA) is used as front end (first stage) of radar receiver.
A LNA is amplifier with low noise figure to reduce the amount of noise generated by the receiver
components, and consequently increases the receiver sensitivity so that the radar receiver can detect
received echo signal that is corrupted severely by the external noise.

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Function of the Radar front end LNA:

1. To decrease the noise figure of the whole receiver, and therefore to increase the receiver sensitivity.
This is because it is the first stage (see analysis).
2. To amplify the received echo.
3. To provide RF selectivity.
Advantages of front end LNA:
4. LNA front end amplifier reduces the required transmitter power and transmitter size.
5. LNA front end amplifier reduces the size of antenna.
The degradation of signal due to thermal noise that is generated by any circuit or system is measured by
noise figure (F). Noise figure represented mathematically by

The noise figure is commonly expressed in decibels [10 log10 (F)] because its value is greater than one. The total noise

figure (Fo) of a system contains N circuits connected in cascade is given as

Where,
F= noise figure
G=gain

NOTE: The above equation shows that the highest weight in the total noise figure (Fo) of the radar receiver is the noise

figure of the first stage (F1). Therefore, the value of F1 should be minimized as much as possible to decrease the value

of Fo, and it can be achieved by using front end LNA.

Mixer: Mixer (or signal multiplier) is a nonlinear electrical circuit that creates new frequencies from
multiplying two signals applied to its input terminals. Two signals are applied to a mixer, and it
produces another two new signals at the sum and difference of the original frequencies. Mixer is
followed by BPF to select one of the output two signals (Sum in Tx, and difference in Rx).

In communications systems, Mixer circuits are used in both transmitter side and in the receiver side and
local oscillator that generates high frequency sinewave signal is one of its two input signals. In
transmitter side, Mixer is used to up-convert the frequency range of the information signal (modulation),

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and in the receiver Mixer is needed to down-convert the received RF signal into IF frequency band
(Superheterodyne receiver).

Figure: Up-conversion and down-conversion

operation of a mixer.
Figure: Mixer symbol.

Signal Processing: Usually done in the IF stage to separate wanted signals from unwanted signals. It
provides the information about the target. It includes the matched filter to maximize the output signal-to-
noise signal ratio. Also, it includes the Doppler processing unit (cancel clutter signal) to separate moving
target from non-moving targets.

 Detector: Uses threshold level to declare presence of target. If the threshold is set too low, the
receiver noise can cause excessive false alarm.

 Gain: The gain of any device/circuit in the transmitter or receiver in dB is

G  Pout  P in w
 P in P in dBw  10 log 1 w 
10log
and
P in w 
P in dBm  10 log   P in dBw 
1 mw  
30
Where, dBW: dB relative to 1 W dBm: dB relative to 1 mW
dBi: A measure of antenna gain (in dB) with respect to an ideal isotropic radiator.
 Data Processor: It processes the received information of the target and then stores it. It concerts
the entire data in to easily understandable coordinates and then gives to display unit.

EXERCISE:
Prove that the frequency at the output of the Mixer circuit in the radar transmitter is higher than any of
its input signals. Assume sin input signals. Also, calculate the ratio of the power of the output highest
frequency component to the power of the input signals.

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PART TWO: Radar Range Equation

Distance (Range) Determination
Target range is the fundamental quantity measured by most of the radars. It is obtained by recording the
round trip (two-way) travel time of a pulse ( TR ), and computing range from:

c.T
Target Range(R)  2 R
Where;

c =speed of light (or speed of EM wave), c  310 8 m / s

TR =round trip time

Note, divide by two to find one-way distance.

Figure 23: Radar signal timing

Find the distance of the target for each microsecond

Solution:
Assume TR  1 sec

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A pulse sent to a target returns after 15 μs. How far away is the target?
Solution:

Range Ambiguities
When the target’s echo arrives after the transmission of the next pulse (called second-time-around or
multiple-time-around) an ambiguity in the range calculation will happen (see figure below).

Figure: illustration of range ambiguity

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To avoid the ambiguity in the range, the pulse repetition interval requires that , and the
maximum unambiguous range is then
c
Ru max  cTp 
2 2 p
Where, f
Tp =time period (time between pulses), second.

fp = pulse repetition frequency (Hz).

NOTE: The value of pulse repetition frequency (fp) should be calculated according to the longest expected range of
detection.
Range ambiguity could happen if the echo signal returns within the time of emitted pulse. Therefore, the
minimum unambiguous range can be determined by

Ru min  c p
2
Where,  p =pulse duration (second).

To detect two closely spaced targets, range resolution (rR) is computed

c
rR
 2B
Where, B  1  p is the signal bandwidth.
Resolution in radar is the measure of the ability to determine whether only one or more than one
different targets are observed. For example, to achieve an rR of 1.5 m in free space requires a 100-MHz
bandwidth in both the transmitted waveform and the receiver bandwidth.
NOTE:
 Pulse duration  and pulse period T p (or fp) is calculated in the radar design step from the

information of Ru max and Ru min

 The accuracy of a range measurement depends on the radar signal bandwidth. The wider the
bandwidth (shorter pulse duration), the greater the accuracy. Thus the bandwidth is the basic
measure of the range accuracy. In military radars, high range resolution is needed to measure the
number of aircrafts flying in close each together.

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A pulse radar emits pulses with a duration of 1 μs and a repetition rate of 1 kHz. Find
the maximum and minimum range for this radar.
Solution:

EXERCISE: Calculate pulse repetition frequency (fp) and pulse duration ( ) for the radar system of
Ru min 1km and Ru max 100km .

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Radar Range
Equation
The Radar range equation is governed by the characteristics of the radar system components (transmitter,
receiver, and antenna), target, and environment.
Assumptions:
PT = peak transmitted power (W)
PR = received power (W)
G = antenna gain (unitless)
Ae = antenna effective aperture (area), m2 σ =
radar cross section (m2)
NOTE:
1. Radar Cross Section (RCS or σ): Defined as a measure of the area of the target illuminated or
seen by the radar. It is a measure of the energy that a target intercepts reflects back toward the radar.
The cross section of a target is determined by: target size, shape, material, angle, and carrier
frequency.
2. Radar cross section is where Stealth comes to play. Lower the object’s radar cross section.

Figure: Radar two-way signals

 Power density from the Radar directive antenna (at the target)
PT GT
4R2

NOTE: Power density of travelled signal falls off as (1/R2) because of path loss.

 Power density of echo signal at the Radar receiving antenna

PTGT


4R2 4R2

Note that the effects of target reflection factor (radar cross section σ), and signal attenuation in a back
propagation way are added.

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 The Received Power by the radar input RF amplifier (consider effective area of receiving antenna
Ae) is calculated by

PR  PT G2T 
4R  4R2 
e

A
PTGT Ae

(4 )2 R 4
From general antenna theory
4 e G2
G 2  Ae
A 4
 
Substitute to the radar equation
P G G 2
PR  T(4T )3 RR4

Usually, pulse radar systems use same antenna for transmitting and receiving signals (GT=GR=G). Therefore,

P G22
PR  (4
T
 )3 R 4
NOTE: radar signal suffers from severe attenuation (double that of other communication systems for the
same distance) because of two ways (round trip) of propagation. The strength of the received signal PR is proportional

(see equ.) to the forth power of distance ( PR  1 ).

R4

Figure: Radar equation and target cross section

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TABLE: Examples of Radar Cross Sections

A radar transmitter has a power of 10 kW and operates at a frequency of 9.5 GHz. Its
signal reflects from a target 15 km away with a radar cross section of 10.2 m2. The gain of the antenna is
20 dBi. Calculate the received signal power.

Solution:

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Maximum Detection Range:

The maximum radar range Rmax is the longest distance that the radar can detect the target. It occurs when the received

echo signal power PR just equals the minimum detectable signal Smin.
1
PG 2 2 4

Rmax   (4T  )3 S 
 min 

This is the fundamental form of the radar equation

P G22
PR  Smin  (4T )3 R 4

Figure: Attenuation profile of radar signal

NOTE
The radar system should be designed (value of Smin ) to ensure that Rmax  Rumax
:

EXERCISE:
Use Matlab to draw the relation between PR vs. R in the pulsed radar system to demonstrate how the received
power decreases with increased range. Select the following radar system parameters:

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Radar Pulse Compression: Motivation &

Solution Two important factors to be considered for radar waveform design are range resolution and
Motivation
:maximum range detection. Range resolution is the ability of the radar to separate closely spaced targets,
and it is related to the pulse width of the waveform according to the following radar range resolution
formula of a transmitted sinusoidal pulse given by

The narrower the pulse width the better is the range resolution (less value of rR). But, if the pulse width is decreased,
the amount of energy in the pulse is decreased and hence maximum range detection gets
reduced (refer to the radar range equation and the relation between Rmax vs. PT). To overcome this problem pulse
compression techniques are used in the radar systems. Pulse compression is a signal processing technique
used by radar to increase the range resolution as well as the signal to noise ratio (SNR).

Solution Pulse compression is implemented as follows;

:
1. FM modulates the transmitted pulses (transmitter process), so that the bandwidth of the pulse
spectrum is increased without decreasing the pulse width.
2. Apply signal process using matched filter at the radar receiver (IF stage). For rectangular pulse,
matched filter is a simple pass band filter. Matched filter is implemented by “convolving” the
reflected echo with the “time reversed” transmit pulse.

Figure: Illustration of pulse compression

Use of matched filter maximizes signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), so that pulse compression technique
combines the high power benefit of long pulse (good maximum range) with the benefit of short pulse
(increased range resolution).

NOTE: The range resolution is enhanced by the same factor as the pulse compression ratio (PCR). PCR
refers to the ratio of the increased pulse bandwidth due to FM modulation-to-the bandwidth of the
sinewave pulse.

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Summary of PULSE RADAR Factors and

Compromises
Factor Desired Benefit(s) Difficulty(s)/Weakness
Pulse Sharp as possible Better range accuracy Requires infinite bandwidth
Shape Tall as possible More power /longer range Requires larger equipment/more power

Pulse Width Short as possible Closer Rumin

Reduces Rumax
More accurate range

Pulse Repetition Freq. Small Greater Rumax More complex circuitry

Better angular resolution More Power

Pulse Compression Uses technique Greater detection range More complex circuitry
Better range resolution

Power High Requires larger equipment & power

Greater Rumax
Beamwidth Narrow Better angular accuracy Slow antenna scanning rate

Carrier Frequency High Better angular resolution

Reduces Rumax due to increased path loss
Smaller equipment

Receiver Sensitivity High Maximizes detection range More complex equipment

Receiver Bandwidth Narrow Better signal-to-noise ratio Distorts pulse shape

Maximizes detection range

EXERCISE:
Analyze, mathematically, the benefits and the weakness of each of the abovementioned Pulse Radar
factors.

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TUTORIAL SHEET
(CHAPTER TWO)

Objective Questions:
1) Radar range is measure in unit.
2) What do you mean by maximum unambiguous range, and which factor affects the maximum radar
range?
3) What is the function of mixer?
4) What is the function of duplexer?
5) What is Klystron?
6) Why and how pulse compression?

Problems:
Q1: A pulsed radar has a duty cycle of 0.016. If the resting time is 380 µs, what is the pulse width?
What is the PRF? What is the minimum range, in meters, of this radar?

Q2: Calculate the time between the emission of a pulse and the detection of its reflection for a target at
a distance of:
(a) 100 m (b) 3 km (c)
75 km

Q3: Find the maximum and minimum useful ranges for a radar with a pulse duration of 50 µs and a
pulse repetition rate of 200 Hz.

Q4: A radar transmits a pulse with a power of 50 kW, which is reflected from a target that is 20 km
away and has a radar cross section of 3 m2. The signal frequency is 20 GHz, and the antenna has a gain
of 25 dB. Calculate the received signal strength.

Q5: Calculate maximum range of radar system which operates at 3 cm wavelength with peak pulse
power of 1 MW. If its minimum detectable signal is 4mW. Radar cross section area is 15 m2 & effective
antenna aperture is 6 m2.

Q6: Increasing the transmitter power of a radar by a factor of 5 will increase the maximum range by
what percent?
Q7: For a given target a radar has a maximum range of 100 km. If the sensitivity of the radar receiver
deteriorates by 3 dB, what is the degraded maximum range for that target?

Q8: A pulse radar propagates the pulse train of τ=1µs anf fp=2 kHz. Each pulse has its frequency increased over the
duration of the pulse width resulting in a pulse compression ratio of 10:1. What is the range resolution of
this radar?
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