CEE431 Radar Systems

Instructed By
Dr. Ahmed Azzam
Electronics and Communication Department
Theba Higher Institute of Engineering
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 LEC. 2

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Radar Operation

4 of 28 CEE 431 LEC. 2 Radar Equation Dr. Ahmed Azzam

Radar Operation

The echo power received by a radar from a target can vary over a wide range of
values, for illustrative purpose might have a power of 10−13 watts. If the radiated
power is 106 watts, the ratio of echo signal power from a target to the radar
transmitter power in this example is 10−19 , or the received echo signal is 190dB less
than the transmitted signal.
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Pulsed Radar

N.B:
Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF)= 1/ Pulse Repetition Time or Interval (PRI).
Pulse Length = Pulse Width (W) or 𝝉.
Block Diagram of Simple Radar

A very elementary basic block

diagram showing a subsystems
found in a radar.

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Basic Parts of a Radar
The Transmitter, which is shown in pervious fig. as a power amplifier.
It generates a suitable waveform for the particular job the radar is
perform. It might have an average power as small as milliwatts or as
large as megawatts.
N.B: The average power is a fare better indication for the radar capability &
performance than its peak power.

The duplexer is to allow a single antenna to be used by Protecting

the sensitive receiver from burning out while the transmitter is on
and by directing the received echo signal to the receiver rather than
to the transmitter.
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Basic Parts of a Radar
The antenna is the device that allows the transmitted energy to be
Propagated into space and then collects the echo energy on receiver.
Most radars use a short pulse waveform so that a single antenna can
be used on a time-shared basis for both transmitting and receiving.
An antenna that produces a narrow directive beam while transmit usually
has a large area to allow the collection of weak echo signals from target.

The Receiver, amplifies the received signal to a level where its

presence can be detected. Because noise the ultimate limitation on
the ability of a radar to extract information about the target. Care
should be taken to insure that the receiver produces very little noise.
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Basic Parts of a Radar
For many radar applications where the limitation to detection is the
unwanted radar echoes from the environment ( Clutter), the receiver
needs to have a large enough dynamic range.
The dynamic range of a receiver, usually expressed in dBs, is defined
as the ratio of the maximum to the minimum signal input power
levels over which the receiver can operate with some specified
performance.
The noise that affects radar performance is usually from the first
stage of the receiver as a low noise amplifier.

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 THE DOPPLER EFFECT
If the target is in motion, there is a shift in the frequency of the
echo signal due to the doppler effect. This frequency shift is
proportional to the velocity of the target relative to the radar (also
called the radial velocity).
The doppler frequency shift is widely used in radar as the basis for
separating desired moving targets from fixed (unwanted) "clutter"
echoes reflected from the natural environment such as land, sea,
or rain.
By this way, Radar can also provide information about the nature of the
target being observed ( stationary or moving ).
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 THE DOPPLER EFFECT
Doppler radars can measure the component of the velocity of targets toward
or away from the radar. This component is called the "radial velocity“.

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 THE DOPPLER EFFECT
The formula for radar Doppler shift is the same as that for reflection of light by a
moving mirror.
The result derived with c as the speed of light and 𝒗𝒓 as the target radial velocity
gives the shifted frequency 𝑓𝑟 as a function of the original frequency 𝑓𝑡 .
Since, 𝒗𝒓
𝟏+ 𝒄
𝒇𝒓 = 𝒇𝒕 𝒗𝒓
𝟏− 𝒄
𝒄 + 𝒗𝒓
𝒇𝒓 = 𝒇𝒕
𝒄 − 𝒗𝒓

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 THE DOPPLER EFFECT

𝒇𝒅 = 𝒇𝒓 − 𝒇𝒕 ; 𝒇𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒅𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒚

𝒄 + 𝒗𝒓 − 𝒄 + 𝒗𝒓
𝒇𝒓 − 𝒇𝒕 = 𝒇𝒕
𝒄 − 𝒗𝒓
𝟐𝒗𝒓
𝒇𝒓 − 𝒇𝒕 = 𝒇𝒕 ; Since c>>𝒗𝒓
𝒄−𝒗𝒓

𝟐𝒗𝒓 𝒄𝒇𝒅
𝒇𝒅 = 𝒇𝒓 − 𝒇𝒕 =𝒇𝒕 𝒗𝒓 =
𝒄 𝟐𝒇𝒕

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 Range to a Target

The most common radar signal,

or waveform, is a series of short
duration, somewhat rectangular-
shaped pulses modulating a
sinewave carrier. (This is
sometimes called a pulse train.)
𝒄𝑻𝑹
The range to a target is determined by the time 𝑻𝑹 it Range =
𝟐
takes the radar signal to travel to the target and back.
c = 𝟑 ∗ 𝟏𝟎𝟖 m/s

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Maximum Unambiguous Range
Echoes that arrive after the transmission of the next pulse are called second-time-
around echoes (or multiple-time-around echoes if from even earlier pulses).
Such an echo would appear to be at a closer range than actual and its range
measurement could be misleading if it were not known to be a second-time-
around echo.
The maximum range at witch a target can be located so as to guarantee that the
leading edge of the received backscatter from that target is received before
transmission begins for the next pulse. is the maximum unambiguous range,
𝑅𝑢𝑛 , and is given by
𝑐𝑇𝑃 𝑐 where 𝑇𝑃 = pulse repetition period = l/ 𝑓𝑝, and
𝑅𝑢𝑛 = = 𝑓𝑝 =pulse repetition frequency (PRF),
2 2𝑓𝑝
Usually given in hertz or pulses per second (PPS ).
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Duty cycle
The product of pulse width (pw) and
pulse-repetition frequency (prf) is
called the duty cycle of a radar system.
Duty cycle is the fraction of time that
a system is in an “active” state.

The duty cycle of a radar waveform is

defined as the ratio of the total time
the radar is radiating to the total
time it could have radiated, which is
𝝉/𝑻𝒑 = 𝝉𝒇𝒑 , or its equivalent 𝑷𝒂𝒗 /𝑷𝒕 •

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Duty cycle

In particular, Duty cycle is

the proportion of time during
which a component, device,
or system is operated.

The duty cycle is used to calculate both the peak power and average
power of a radar system.

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Duty cycle

Ex, Suppose a transmitter

operates for 1 microsecond, and
is shut off for 99𝜇𝑠, then is run
for 1 𝜇𝑠 transmitter runs for one
out of 100 𝜇𝑠, or 1/100 of the
time, and its duty cycle is
therefore 1/100, or 1%.

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EX:
The typical radar utilizes a pulse waveform, with peak power P = 1 MW,
t

pulse width 𝜏 =1 𝜇𝑠, and pulse repetition period 𝑻𝒑 = 1 ms = 1000 𝜇𝑠.

Calculate
The pulse repetition frequency 𝒇𝒑 , maximum unambiguous range, and the
average power (𝑷𝒂𝒗 ).
Solution
1
𝒇𝒑 = = 1000 hz
𝑻𝒑
𝒄𝑻𝑷 𝒄 𝟑∗𝟏𝟎𝟖
𝑹𝒖𝒏 = = = = 150𝑘𝑚
𝟐 𝟐𝒇𝒑 𝟐∗𝟏𝟎𝟑
𝝉 𝟏𝟎𝟔 ∗𝟏𝟎−𝟔
𝑷𝒂𝒗 = 𝑷𝒕
𝑻𝑷
= 𝑷𝒕 𝝉𝒇𝒑 = 𝟏𝟎−𝟑
=1kw
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 End of Lecture
Thank You

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