RADAR and GNSS

Associate Professor Vu Van Yem, Ph.D.

Vice Dean
Head of Department of Telecommunication Systems,
School of Electronics and Telecommunications,
Deputy Director of the Center for Innovation Technology,
Hanoi University Of Science and Technology

Email:yemvv-fet@mail.hut.edu.vn

Ha Noi – January 2012

2/27/2012 RADAR 1
 PART I- RADAR
A- Basic radar theory
Outline
1. Principles of radar
2. Radar antenna
3. Radar modes
4. Pulsed radar
5. Doppler radar
6. FM-CW radar

Lecture on Radar
1. Principles of radar

Lecture on Radar
1.1 A radar operator view

Lecture on Radar
1.2 Brief history of radar

 Conceived as early as 1880 by Heinrich Hertz

 Observed that radio waves could be reflected off
metal objects.
 Radio Aid to Detection And Ranging
 1930s
 Britain
built the first ground-based early warning
system called Chain Home.
 1940
 Inventionof the magnetron permits high power
transmission at high frequency, thus making airborne
radar possible.
Lecture on Radar
1.2.1 Brief history of radar

 Currently
 Radar is the primary sensor on nearly all
military aircraft.
 Roles include airborne early warning, target
acquisition, target tracking, target illumination,
ground mapping, collision avoidance, weather
warning.
 Practical frequency range 100MHz-100GHz.

Lecture on Radar
1.3 Airborne radar bands

Lecture on Radar
1.3.1 Airborne radar bands

Lecture on Radar
1.3.2 Airborne radar bands

Lecture on Radar
Radar Frequency Band

Lecture on Radar
1.4 Basic principle of radar

 target range, R = ct / 2

Lecture on Radar
1.4.1 Basic principle of radar

 Two common transmission techniques:

 pulses
 continuous wave

Lecture on Radar
2. Radar antenna
 A basic principle of radar is that it directs
energy (in the form of an EM wave) at its
intended target(s).
 Recall that the directivity of an antenna is
measured as a function of its gain.
 Therefore antenna types most useful for
radar applications include parabolic and
array antenna.

Lecture on Radar
2.1 Parabolic (dish) antenna

 Early airborne radars typically

consisted of parabolic
reflectors with horn feeds.
 The dish effectively directs the
transmitted energy towards a
target while at the same time
“gathering and concentrating”
some fraction of the returned
energy.

Lecture on Radar
2.2 Planar (phased) array antenna

 Recent radars more likely

employ a planar array
 It is electronically steerable as
a transmit or receive antenna
using phase shifters.
 It has the further advantage of
being capable of being
integrated with the skin of the
aircraft (“smart skin”).

Lecture on Radar
2.3 Radar antenna beam patterns

 The main lobe of the radar antenna beam is

central to the performance of the system.
 The side lobes are not only wasteful

Lecture on Radar
3. Airborne radar modes
 Airborne radars are designed for and used in
many different modes. Common modes include:
 air-to-air search
 air-to-air tracking
 air-to-air track-while-scan (TWS)
 ground mapping
 continuous wave (CW) illumination
 multimode

Lecture on Radar
3.1 Air-to-air search

Lecture on Radar
3.2 Air-to-air tracking

Lecture on Radar
3.3 Air-to-air track-while-scan

Lecture on Radar
3.4 Ground mapping

Lecture on Radar
3.5 Continuous wave illumination

Lecture on Radar
3.6 Multimode

Lecture on Radar
4. Pulsed radar
 A pulsed radar is characterized by a high power
transmitter that generates an endless sequence
of pulses. The rate at which the pulses are
repeated is defined as the pulse repetition
frequency.
 Denote:
 pulse width, , usually expressed in sec
 pulse repetition frequency, PRF, usually in kHz
 pulse period, Tp = 1/PRF, usually in sec

Lecture on Radar
4.1 Pulsed radar architecture

Lecture on Radar
4.1.1 A lab-based pulsed radar

Lecture on Radar
4.2 Pulsed modulation

Lecture on Radar
4.2.1 Pulsed radar bandwidth

 In the frequency domain, the transmitted and

received signals are composed of spectral
components centered on the radar operating
frequency, f0, with a sin(x)/x shape.
 The practical limits of the frequency response is
f0  1/,
 and therefore the bandwidth of the receiver must
be at least:
BWRx ≥ 2/

Lecture on Radar
4.2.2 Pulsed radar average power

 Since a pulsed radar only transmits for a small

portion of the time, the average power of the
radar is quite low:
Pav = Ppeak  / Tp

 For example a pulsed radar with a 1 sec pulse width

and a medium PRF of 4 kHz that transmits at a peak
power of 10kW transmits an average power of:
Pav = (10000 W) (0.000001 sec) (4000 /sec)
= _____ W = _____ dBW

Lecture on Radar
4.3 Pulsed radar range resolution

 The range resolution of a radar is its ability to

distinguish two closely spaced targets along the
same line of sight (LOS). The range resolution
is a function of the pulse length, where pulse
length, Lp = c.
 For example, a 1 sec pulse width yields a pulse
length of 0.3 km.
 Two targets can be resolved in range if:
Lp < 2(R2 – R1)

Lecture on Radar
4.3.1 Pulsed radar range resolution

Lecture on Radar
4.3.2 Pulsed radar range resolution

Lecture on Radar
4.4 Pulsed radar range ambiguity

 The PRF is another key radar parameter and is

arguably one of the most difficult design
decisions.
 The range of a target becomes ambiguous as a
function of half the pulse period; in other words
targets that are further than half the pulse period
yield ambiguous range results.
 Ramb = c / (2 PRF) = cTp / 2

Lecture on Radar
4.4 Pulsed radar range ambiguity

This figure is very confusing.

Lecture on Radar
4.4.1 Range ambiguity

Ramb

return time

PRF

 A target whose range is:

R < Ramb = c / (2 PRF) = cTp / 2
0 10 20 30

Lecture on Radar
4.4.2 Range ambiguity

Ramb

return time

PRF

 A target whose range is :

R > Ramb = c / (2 PRF) = cTp / 2
0 10 20 30

Lecture on Radar
4.4.3 Range ambiguity

Ramb

PRF

 Which target is which? ?

0 10 20 30

Lecture on Radar
4.5 Angle resolution

Lecture on Radar
5. Target tracking
 A target that is tracked is said to be “locked on”;
key data to maintain on locked targets is:
 range,
 azimuth and elevation angle.
 A frame of reference using pitch and roll from
aircraft attitude indicators is required for angle
tracking. Three angle tracking techniques are:
 sequential lobing
 conical scan
 monopulse

Lecture on Radar
5.1 Range tracking - range gating

Lecture on Radar
5.2 Angle tracking – sequential lobing

Lecture on Radar
5.3 Angle tracking – sequential lobing

Lecture on Radar
5.4 Angle tracking – conical scan

Lecture on Radar
5.5 Angle tracking – monopulse

Lecture on Radar
5.6 Angle tracking – monopulse

Lecture on Radar
In-class exercises
 Given a 10.5 GHz intercept radar and a
transmitter capable of providing a peak power
of 44 dBW at a PRF of 2 kHz:
 What pulse width yields an average power of 50W?
 What is the bandwidth in MHz and in % of this
signal?

Lecture on Radar
6.3 Pulsed radar calculations

 Design the pulse parameters so as to achieve maximum

average power for an unspecified Ku band pulsed radar
given the following component specifications and system
requirements:
 the receiver has a bandwidth of at least 0.5% across the band
 the required range resolution is 50m
 The required range ambiguity is 25 km
 For cooling purposes, ensure that the duty cycle of the
transmitter does not exceed 0.2%

Lecture on Radar