Introduction to Radar Systems

 Radar principle, range measurement

 Radar waveform (PRF,PRI)
 Basic Radar parameters
 Simple Radar Range Equation
 Radar applications and examples

Chapter 1, Skolnik, 3rd edition

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 Radar principle

Radar: Radio Detection And Ranging

Transmitted signal

Transmitter(Tx) Antenna

target
Receiver(Rx) Echo signal

Range to target

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 Range to a target

TR: time the radar signal to travel to target and back

c=the speed of light = the speed of electromagnetic waves
R=range to a target
R=cTR/2

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 Radar signal: pulse train

Pulse repetition interval/period

power

Target
echo

time
=Pulse
Width
(=duration) Pulse train
TP =1/fP =Pulse repetition interval (PRI)
fP=pulse repetition frequency(PRF)
Pav=average power=Pt /TP=Pt  fP (W)
/TP =Duty cycle
Pulse energy: Ep=Pt  (J)

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 Problem

An airborne pulsed radar has a peak power of 10KW, and uses two PRFs, fp1
= 10KHz and fp2 = 30KHz .
 What are the required pulse widths for each PRF so that the average
transmitted power is constant and is equal to 1500Watts ?
 Compute the pulse energy in each case.

TP =1/fP =Pulse repetition interval (PRI)

fP=pulse repetition frequency(PRF)
Pav=average power=Pt /TP=Pt  fP (W)
/TP =Duty cycle
Pulse energy: Ep=Pt  (J)

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 Radar waveform: temporal

1
Amplitude

-1

-2

-3
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (us)

0.5
RF signal (High frequency carrier)
fRF=fc=fo80MHz
0
while fP=0.1MHz
-0.5

-1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Duty cycle= 1/10=0.1 or 10%

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 Radar waveforms: temporal & spectral
1

0.9
1

0.8

0.6

0.8
0.4

0.2

0
0.7
-0.2

-0.4 0.6
-0.6

-0.8 0.5
-1

-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 0.4

0.3
PRI 
0.2
1

0.1
0.8
0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
0.6

0.4

0.2
fo=fc 1/
0
-5 0 5 10 15 20 25
f (GHz) 1/PRI

BW=B=1/ or 1.2/

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 Example: Medium range air-surveillance radar

Pt=1MW TP= 1 ms=1000s

power

10-12W

time
=1s

fP=1/TP=PRF=1/PRI=1000Hz=1kHz
Duty cycle=1/1000=0.1%
Power attenuation=Pt/Pr= 1018=180dB

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 (Maximum) Unambiguous Range

 Time between the pulses is too short, then

 an echo signal from a long range target might arrive after the
transmission of the next pulse,
 introducing an incorrect or “ambiguous range” measurement
 Echoes arriving after transmission of the next pulse
 second time around echoes
 multiple time around echoes
 The (maximum) unambiguous range is the range beyond which
targets appear as second time around echoes

Run=cTP/2=c/2fP

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 Range ambiguity

1 c
f p= =
PRI 2R un

A
B
C

t=0 t=PRI=1/PRF t=2 PRI=2/PRF t=3 PRI=3/PRF time

(or range)

Radar Unambiguous Range PRI (1/PRF)

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 Unambiguous range<=> PRF (1/PRI)

nautical miles=>nm

1nm~1,85km

(1 mile~ 1,6 km)

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 Example: Airborne Fire Control Radar (F16C/D)

Many variants in
 X band: 8-12.5 GHz

 Low, Medium and high PRF for

air and surface targets
Multimode radar system
AN/APG series  Low PRF(high PRI) mode: air
to surface engagements (500
Hz)
 High PRF velocity search
mode: increased detection
range for air interceptions
(15KHz)
 Medium PRF search mode:
increases range and angle
information( [0.5,15]kHz)
 More enhancements !

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 Example: Early Warning Radar(Tall King)

 A-band (150-170 MHz sub-band)

 Low PRF (100-200 Hz)
 Range: 500-600 km (max. 1200 km)
 Power rate ~ 900 KW
 First introduced during the 1950s
 Early warning against high-altitude
aircrafts
 associated with the `Score Board B'
identification friend-or-foe system
 PRV-11 height-finding radar

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 Monostatic and bistatic operations

Monostatic target

Tx
target

Bistatic

d: distance Rx
Multistatic: radar network
M Tx and N Rx

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 Range resolution and cross range

 Divide the range difference into small “bins”, range bin

R R
ΔR = max min
N
Resolving targets in cross range requires signal processing techniques
(limited by antenna beamwidth in azimuth)
Cross Range

Range

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 Range resolution
Consider two targets at R1 and R2
t 2  t1 Δt
ΔR = R2  R1 = c =c
2 2
Target separated at least by ΔR can be resolved


Time (temporal)

Distance (space domain)

S=c

In order to resolve two targets in range;

Δt τ c
c =c = τ  1/ B
2 2 2B
Resolution=cτ/2
=1µs, two equal targets can be resolved if they are separated by 150m

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 Example: Range resolution

 A typical Early Warning Radar (Tall King)

PW = 10 sec
Range resolution=10 .10-6 (sec) x 3. 108 (m/sec) /2=1500m

 A typical Fire Control Radar (AN/APG series)

PW ~0,3-4 sec
Search: Range resolution=4.10-6 (sec) x 3. 108(m/sec) /2=600 m
Tracking: Range resolution=0,3 .10-6 (sec) x 3. 108(m/sec) /2=45 m

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 Problem [Mahafza]

For a radar system with an unambiguous range of 100 km, and a

bandwidth of 0.5 MHz, compute the required PRF, PRI, ∆R , and τ .

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 Resolution cell (3D resolution or radar cell)

Azimuth
resolution

Elevation
resolution

Range
resolution

Range resolution: pulse width

Azimuth resolution: antenna beamwidth in azimuth
Elevation resolution: antenna beamwidth in elevation

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 Example

Calculate range resolutions for a target at a range of 100 km for

an Early Warning Radar system
f = 1 GHz
PRF= 300 Hz
PW = 10 sec
Antenna Beamwidth (azimuth) = 2 (deg) = 0.035 (rad)
Antenna Beamwidth (elevation) = 5 (deg) = 0.087 (rad)

 Range resolution = 10 (sec) 3 108 (m) / 2 = 1500 (m)

 Azimuth resolution = 100 000 (m) 35 10-3 = 3.5
(km)
 Elevation resolution= 100 000 (m) 87 10-3 = 8.7 (km)

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 Simple radar range equation
PtG
4πR2
PtG

Pt G
σ
Pt G σ 4πR2
Pr = Ae
4πR2 4πR2

Pt GAeσ radar cross section (RCS) of target : σ

Received power : Pr =
4π 2 R 4
When Smin = Pr for maximum range, Identical antennas are used at Rx/Tx
1/ 4 4πA
 Pt GAe σ  G= 2e ,
Maximum range : Rmax =  λ

 4π 2
S min  Maximum range
1/ 4 1/ 4
 Pt Gλ 2 σ   Pt Ae2 σ 
Rmax =   = 
 4 π 3
S min   4 πλ 2
S min 

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 Radar range: transmitted power and range

1/ 4 1/ 4
 PtGλ σ 
2
 Pt Ae σ 
2
Rmax =   = 2 
 4π  Smin 
3
 4πλ Smin 

 In order to double the maximum range

 increase the transmitted power 16 times

 Compare unambiguous range and maximum range in the

radar range equation ?

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 Pulse Radar Operation (Simplified Block)

Pulse Transmitter
modulator
Antenna
Power Waveform
Duplexer
amplifier generator Receiver

Low-noise Intermediate Matched Detector or

Mixer
RF amplifier (IF) amplifier filter demodulator

Local Video Threshold

output
oscillator amplifier decision
1001

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 Radar Frequency Band (Range of RF carrier)

Band Nominal Frequency

designation range
HF 3-30MHz
VHF 30-300MHz
UHF 300-1000MHz
Early Warning Radar: UHF, S
L 1-2GHz Radar altimetre: S, C
S 2-4GHz Meteorology radar: C and X
Airborne (fighter/attack): X and Ku
C 4-8GHz
X 8-12GHz
Ku 12-18GHz
K 18-27GHz
Ka 27-40GHz

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 New band designation

MILLI-
VHF UHF L S C X K U K KA METER

GHz .1 .15 .2 .3 .5 1 1.5 2 3 4 6 8 10 15 20 30 40 60

100

A B C D E FG H I J K L M

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 Exercises [Skolnik]

Problems (pp.27-28)
 1.1
 1.2
 1.3
 1.4
 1.5
 1.6

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