Radar performance

        All
of the parameters of the basic pulsed radar system will affect the 
performance in some way.  Here we find specific examples and quantify this
dependence 
where possible.

Pulse Width

The duration of the pulse and the length of the target along the radial direction  
determine the duration of the returned pulse.  In most cases the length of the 
return is usually very similar to the transmitted pulse. In the display unit, the 
pulse (in time) will be converted into a pulse in distance.  The range of values 
from the leading edge to the trailing edge will create some uncertainty in the 
range to the target.  Taken at face value, the ability to accurately measure range 
is determined by the pulse width.  

        If we designate the uncertainty in measured range as the range resolution, 

RRES = c PW/2

        Now,
you may wonder why not just take the leading edge of the pulse as the  
range which can be determined with much finer accuracy?  The problem is that it
is 
virtually impossible to create the perfect leading edge.  In practice, the ideal 
pulse will really appear like:

Figure 6

To create a perfectly formed pulse with a vertical leading edge would require an
infinite bandwidth. In fact you may equate the bandwidth, , of the transmitter
to the minimum pulse width, PW by:
PW = 1/2

Given this insight, it is quite reasonable to say that the range can be determined no
more accurately than cPW/2 or equivalently

RRES = c/4

In fact, high resolution radar is often referred to as wide-band radar which you now
see as equivalent statements. One term is referring to the time domain and the other
the frequency domain. The duration of the pulse also affects the minimum range at
which the radar system can detect. The outgoing pulse must physically clear the
antenna before the return can be processed. Since this lasts for a time interval equal
to the pulse width, PW, the minimum displayed range is then: 

RMIN = c PW/2

The minimum range effect can be seen on a PPI display as a saturated or blank
area 
around the origin.

Figure 7

Increasing the pulse width while maintaining the other parameters the same will
also affect the duty cycle and therefore the average power. For many systems, it is
desirable to keep the average power fixed. Then the PRF must be simultaneously
changed with PW in order to keep the product PW x PRF the same. For example, if
the pulse width is reduced by a factor of ½ in order to improve the resolution, then
the PRF is usually doubled.

Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF)

        The frequency of pulse transmission affects the maximum range that can be 
displayed.  Recall that the synchronizer resets the timing clock as each new pulse 
is transmitted.  Returns from distant targets that do no reach the receiver until 
after the next pulse has been sent will not be displayed correctly.  Since the timing 
clock has been reset, they will be displayed as if the range where less than actual.  
If this were possible, then the range information would be considered ambiguous.  
An operator would not know whether the range were the actual range or some
greater 
value.

Figure 8

The maximum actual range that can be detected and displayed without ambiguity,
or the maximum unambiguous range, is just the range corresponding to a time
interval equal to the pulse repetition time, PRT. Therefore, the maximum
unambiguous range, 
RUNAMB = c PRT/2 = c/(2PRF)

        When a radar is scanning, it is necessary to control the scan rate so that a 
sufficient number of pulses will be transmitted in any particular direction in order 
to guarantee reliable detection.  If too few pulses are used, then it will more 
difficult to distinguish false targets from actual ones.  False targets may be present 
in one or two pulses but certainly not in ten or twenty in a row.  Therefore to 
maintain a low false detection rate, the number of pulses transmitted in each 
direction should be kept high, usually above ten.  

        For systems with high pulse repetition rates (frequencies), the radar beam 
can be repositioned more rapidly and therefore scan more quickly.  Conversely, if
the 
PRF is lowered the scan rate needs to be reduced.  For simple scans it is easy to 
quantify the number of pulses that will be returned from any particular target.  Let 
 represent the dwell time, which is the duration that the target remains in the 
radar's beam during each scan.  The number of pulses, N,  that the target will be 
exposed to during the dwell time is:

N =  PRF

We may rearrange this equation to make a requirement on the dwell time for a
particular scan

min = Nmin /PRF

So it is easy to see that high pulse repetition rates require smaller dwell times. For
a continuous circular scan, for example, the dwell time is related to the rotation rate
and the beam-width.



where q = beam-width [degrees] W = rotation rate [degrees/sec] which will

MAX = PRFN
 

Radar Frequency

                Finally, the frequency of the radio carrier wave will also have some 
affect on how the radar beam propagates.  At the low frequency extremes, radar
beams 
will refract in the atmosphere and can be caught in "ducts" which result in long 
ranges.  At the high extreme, the radar beam will behave much like visible light
and 
travel in very straight lines.   Very high frequency radar beams will suffer high 
losses and are not suitable for long range systems.   

        The frequency will also affect the beam-width.  For the same antenna size, 
a low frequency radar will have a larger beam-width than a high frequency one.  
In order to keep the beam-width constant, a low frequency radar will need a large 
antenna.

Theoretical Maximum Range Equation

       
A radar receiver can detect a target if the return is of sufficient strength. 
Let us designate the minimum return signal that can be detected as S min, which
should 
have units of Watts, W.  The size and ability of a target to reflect radar
energy can 
be summarized into a single term, , known as the radar cross-section, which
has units
of m2.  If absolutely all of the incident radar energy on the target were
reflected 
equally in all directions, then the radar cross section would be equal to
the target's 
cross-sectional area as seen by the transmitter.  In practice, some energy
is absorbed 
and the reflected energy is not distributed equally in all directions. 
Therefore, the 
radar cross-section is quite difficult to estimate and is normally
determined by 
measurement.  

        Given these new quantities we can construct a simple model for the radar
power
that returns to the receiver:

Pr = Pt G 1/4R2 1/4R2 Ae

The terms in this equation have been grouped to illustrate the sequence from
transmission to collection. Here is the sequence in detail: 
G =  Gdir

The transmitter puts out peak power Pt into the antenna, which focuses it into a
beam with gain G. The power gain is similar to the directional gain, G dir, except
that it must also include losses from the transmitter to the antenna. These losses are
summarized by the single term for efficiency, . Therefore

The radar energy spreads out uniformly in all directions. The power per unit area
must therefore decrease as the area increases. Since the energy is spread out over
the surface of a sphere the factor of 1/4R2 accounts for the reduction.

The radar energy is collected by the surface of the target and reflected. The radar
cross section  accounts for both of these processes.

The reflected energy spreads out just like the transmitted energy.

The receiving antenna collects the energy proportional to its effective area, known
as the antenna's aperture, Ae. This also includes losses in the reception process until
the signal reaches the receiver. Hence the subscript "e" for "effective." The
effective aperture is related to the physical aperture, A, by the same efficiency term
used in power gain, given the symbol . So that

Ae =  A

       
Our criterion for detection is simply that the received power, P r must 
exceed the minimum, Smin.  Since the received power decreases with range, the
maximum 
detection range will occur when the received power is equal to the minimum , i.e.  
Pr = Smin.  If you solve for the range, you get an equation for the maximum
theoretical 
radar range:

Perhaps the most important feature of this equation is the fourth-root dependence.
The practical implication of this is that one must greatly increase the output power
to get a modest increase in performance. For example, in order to double the range,
the transmitted power would have to be increased 16-fold. You should also note
that the minimum power level for detection, S min, depends on the noise level. In
practice, this quantity constantly be varied in order to achieve the perfect balance
between high sensitivity which is susceptible to noise and low sensitivity which
may limit the radar's ability to detect targets. Example: Find the maximum range of
the AN/SPS-49 radar, given the following data 

Antenna Size = 7.3 m wide by 4.3 m tall

We know from the previous example, that the directional antenna gain,

Gdir  = 4/ = 4/(.05 x .07) = 3430

The power gain,

G = 2744.

Likewise, the effective aperture,

Ae = 25.1 m2.

Therefore the range is  , or