Introduction to Radar Systems

Dr. Robert M. ODonnell

MIT Lincoln Laboratory

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Disclaimer of Endorsement and Liability

The video courseware and accompanying viewgraphs presented on this server were prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, nor the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and its Lincoln Laboratory, nor any of their contractors, subcontractors, or their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, products, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government, any agency thereof, or any of their contractors or subcontractors or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and its Lincoln Laboratory. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof or any of their contractors or subcontractors
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Introduction to Radar Systems Introduction

MIT Lincoln Laboratory

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Acknowledgement

Developers of Tutorial Material

Dr. Eric D. Evans Dr. Andrew D. Gerber Dr. Robert M. ODonnell
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Dr. Robert G. Atkins Dr. Pamela R. Evans Dr. Robert J. Galejs Dr. Jeffrey S. Herd Dr. Claude F. Noiseux Dr. Philip K. W. Phu Dr. Nicholas B. Pulsone Dr. Katherine A. Rink Dr. James Ward Dr. Stephen D. Weiner And many others
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

Background on the Course

One of Many Radar Courses Presented at the Laboratory Relatively Short

10 lectures 40 to 60 minutes each

Introductory in Scope
Basic Radar Concepts Minimal Mathematical Formalism

Prerequisite A College Degree

Preferred in Engineering or Science, but not Required

More Advanced Issues Dealt with in Other Laboratory Radar Courses

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Outline

Why radar? The basics Course agenda

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What Means are Available for Lifting the Fog of War ?

D-Day + 1

The Invasion of Normandy

D-Day

Courtesy of National Archives.

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What Means are Available for Lifting the Fog of War ?

Courtesy of US Marine Corp, History Division.

Iwo Jima 1945

Courtesy of National Archives.

Courtesy of National Archives.

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Military Means of Sensing

Optical/IR
Ground surveillance/ reconnaissance/ID Laser targeting Night vision Space surveillance Missile seekers

Radar

Acoustic

Other

Chem/Bio Surveillance Sonar Radiological Tracking Blast detection Fire control Troop movement Target ID/ detection discrimination Ground surveillance/ reconnaissance Ground mapping Moving target detection Air traffic control Missile seekers Long range All-weather Day/night 3-space target location Reasonably robust against countermeasures
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Applications

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Attributes

Early Days of Radar

Chain Home Radar, Deployment Began 1936
Chain Home Radar Coverage circa 1940 (21 Early Warning Radar Sites) Sept 2006 Photograph of Three Chain Home Transmit Towers, near Dover

Dover Radar Site

Courtesy of Robert Cromwell. Used with permission.

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Chain Home Radar System

Typical Chain Home Radar Site
Radar Parameters
Frequency
20-30 MHz 10-15 m Dipole Array on Transmit Crossed Dipoles on Receive About 100o 350 kW ~160 nmi on German Bomber

Wavelength Antenna

Azimuth Beamwidth

Peak Power Detection Range

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Chain Home Transmit & Receive Antennas

Two Transmitter Towers
/2 360'

/2 240' 215'

One Receiver Tower

95' 45' 0' Main Gap Filler Antenna Antenna

Transmit Antenna
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Receive Antenna
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Radar and The Battle of Britain

Chain Home Radar Coverage circa 1940 (21 Early Warning Radar Sites)

The Chain Home Radar

British Force Multiplier during the Battle of Britain

Timely warning of direction and size of German aircraft attacks allowed British to
Focus their limited numbers of interceptor aircraft Achieve numerical parity with the attacking German aircraft

Effect on the War

Germany was unable to achieve Air Superiority Invasion of Great Britain was postponed indefinitely
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Surveillance and Fire Control Radars

Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission. Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission. Photo courtesy of ITT Corporation. Used with permission.

Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission.

Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission.

Courtesy of US Navy.

Courtesy of Global Security. AG 6/18/02 Used with permission.

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Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission.

Airborne and Air Traffic Control Radars

Courtesy of US Air Force. Courtesy of US Navy.

Courtesy of Northrop Grumman. Used with permission.

Courtesy Lincoln Laboratory. Courtesy of US Air Force.

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Courtesy of US Air Force. Courtesy of US Air Force.

Instrumentation Radars

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Outline

Why radar? The basics Course agenda

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RADAR
RAdio Detection And Ranging
Antenna Propagation

Target Cross Section Transmitted Pulse Reflected Pulse (echo)

Radar observables: Target range Target angles (azimuth & elevation) Target size (radar cross section) Target speed (Doppler) Target features (imaging)
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Electromagnetic Waves

Courtesy Berkeley National Laboratory

Radar Frequencies
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Properties of Waves
Relationship Between Frequency and Wavelength

1, 2, 3,

Speed of light, c c = 3x108 m/sec = 300,000,000 m/sec

Figure by MIT OCW.

Frequency (1/s) =

Speed of light (m/s) Wavelength (m)

Wavelength 3m 30 cm 10 cm 3 cm
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Examples:

Frequency 100 MHz 1 GHz 3 GHz 10 GHz

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Properties of Waves
Phase and Amplitude
Amplitude (volts) A Phase,

A sin( )

Amplitude (volts) A

90 phase offset

Phase,

A sin( 90 o )

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Properties of Waves
Constructive vs. Destructive Addition

Constructive (in phase)

Partially Constructive (somewhat out of phase)

Destructive (180 out of phase)

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Non-coherent signals (noise)

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Polarization
y Electromagnetic Wave Electromagnetic Wave Electric Field Electric Field Magnetic Field Magnetic Field

Vertical Polarization y

Horizontal Polarization y

E x
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z
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Radar Frequency Bands

Wavelength 1 km 1m 1 mm 1 m 1 nm

Frequency

1 MHz

1 GHz

109 Hz

1012 Hz IR UV Visible

UHF VHF 0 1

L-Band

S-Band

C-Band

X-Band

Ku K Ka W

5 6 7 8 Allocated Frequency (GHz) 6 5 Wavelength (cm) 4

10

11

12

30 20
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10 9

8 7

3
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IEEE Standard Radar Bands (Typical Use)

HF VHF UHF L-Band S-Band C-Band X-Band Ku-Band K-Band Ka-Band W-Band
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3 30 MHz 30 MHz300 MHz 300 MHz1 GHz 1 GHz2 GHz 2 GHz4 GHz 4 GHz8 GHz 8 GHz12 GHz 12 GHz18 GHz 18 GHz27 GHz 27 GHz40 GHz 40 GHz 100+ GHz
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Search Radars

Search & Track Radars Fire Control & Imaging Radars

Missile Seekers

Radar Block Diagram

Propagation Medium Target Cross Section

Transmitter

Waveform Generator

Signal Processor Antenna Receiver A/D Pulse Compression Doppler Processing

Main Computer Tracking & Parameter Estimation

Console / Display Recording

Detection

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Radar Range Equation

Antenna Aperture A Transmit Power PT Transmitted Pulse Target Cross Section

Received Pulse
Figure by MIT OCW.

Transmit Power

Transmit Gain

Spread Factor

Losses

Target RCS

Spread Receive Factor Aperture

Dwell Time

Received Signal = Energy

PT

4A 2

1 4R2

1 L

1 4R2

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Signal-to-Noise Ratio

Received Signal

Noise

Received Signal Energy SNR = Noise Energy

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What the #@!*% is a dB?

The relative value of two things, measured on a logarithmic scale, is often expressed in deciBels (dB)

Example:

Signal-to-noise ratio (dB) = 10 log 10

Signal Power Noise Power

Factor of: 10 100 1000

. . .

Scientific Notation 101 102 103

dB 10 20 30

0 dB = factor of 1 -10 dB = factor of 1/10 -20 dB = factor of 1/100 3 dB = factor of 2 -3 dB = factor of 1/2
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

1,000,000

106

60

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Pulsed Radar
Terminology and Concepts
Pulse length

Power

Peak power

Target Return Pulse repetition interval (PRI) Pulse length Pulse repetition interval

Time

Duty cycle =

Average power = Peak power * Duty cycle Pulse repetition frequency (PRF) = 1/(PRI) Continuous wave (CW) radar: Duty cycle = 100% (always on)
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Pulsed Radar
Terminology and Concepts
Pulse length 100 sec

Peak power

1 MW

Power

Target Return

1 W

Pulse repetition interval (PRI) 1 msec Pulse length Pulse repetition interval

Time
10%

Duty cycle =

Average power = Peak power * Duty cycle Pulse repetition frequency (PRF) = 1/(PRI)

100 kW 1 kHz

Continuous wave (CW) radar: Duty cycle = 100% (always on)

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Brief Mathematical Digression

Scientific Notation and Greek Prefixes

Scientific Notation 109 106 103 101 100 10-3 10-6

Standard Notation 1,000,000,000 1,000,000 1,000 10 1 0.001 0.000,001

Greek Prefix Giga Mega kilo milli micro

Radar Examples GHz MHz, MW km msec sec

MHz = Megahertz MW = Megawatt

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Radar Waveforms
What do radars transmit?

Waves?

or Pulses?

Waves, modulated by on-off action of pulse envelope

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Radar Waveforms (contd.)

Pulse at single frequency
Frequency

Time

Pulse with changing frequency

Frequency

Linear FrequencyModulated (LFM) Waveform

Time
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Radar Range Measurement

e ang R

Target
d itte sm ran ulse T P ed ect fl Re ulse P

Target range =

c 2

where c = speed of light = round trip time

Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission.

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Antenna Gain

Isotropic antenna

Directional antenna G = antenna gain

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Propagation Effects on Radar Performance

Atmospheric attenuation Reflection off of earths surface Over-the-horizon diffraction Atmospheric refraction

Radar beams can be attenuated, reflected and Radar beams can be attenuated, reflected and bent by the environment bent by the environment
MIT Lincoln Laboratory

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Radar Cross Section (RCS)

RCS Incident Power Density (Watts/m2) x

(m2)

Reflected Power (Watts)

Radar Cross Section (RCS, or s) is the effective crosssectional area of the target as seen by the radar measured in m2, or dBm2
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Signal Processing
Pulse Compression
Problem: Pulse can be very long; does not allow accurate range measurement 1 msec x c = 150 km 2

?
Figure by MIT OCW.

Solution: Use pulse with changing frequency and signal process using matched filter

Matched Filter
Uncompressed pulse
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Compressed pulse
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Bandwidth
Narrowband Waveform Bandwidth Low Range Resolution

Frequency

Compressed Pulse

R =

c 2B

Time Wideband Waveform Frequency Compressed Pulse Bandwidth

Range

High Range Resolution

Time
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Range
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Why Bandwidth is Important

Wideband Target Profile
Bandwidth Very High (X 30)

Power

High (X 10)

Medium (X 3)

Low

Relative Range (m)

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Detection of Signals in Noise

Detected Target False Alarm Power Missed Target

Detection Threshold

RMS Noise Level Range

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Coherent Integration
Signal buried in Noise (SNR < 0 dB) Voltage Pulse 1

+ Pulse 2

0 + Pulse 3

. . .
+ Pulse N Power 0

Signal integrated out of Noise (SNR increases by N)

Signals are same each time; add coherently (N2) Noise is different each time; doesnt add coherently (N)
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|x|2

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Doppler Effect

Observer A

Observer B

Observer A Hears

Observer B Hears

Driver Hears
Figure by MIT OCW.
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Doppler Shift Concept

c v = f = c f

c f = f (2v/)
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Doppler shift

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Why Doppler is Important

Surface Radar Airborne Radar

Clutter returns are much larger than target returns however, targets move, clutter doesnt.

Note: if youre moving too, you need to take that into account.

Doppler lets you separate things that are moving from things that arent Doppler lets you separate things that are moving from things that arent
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Clutter Doppler Spectra

70 60

Relative Power (dB)

50 40 30 20 10 0 -10 -20 0

Land Sea Rain Chaff Birds

Target

50

100

150

200

Velocity (m/s)
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Radar Block Diagram

Propagation Medium Target Cross Section

Transmitter

Waveform Generator

Signal Processor Antenna Receiver A/D Pulse Compression Doppler Processing

Main Computer Tracking & Parameter Estimation

Console / Display Recording

Detection

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Outline

Why radar? The basics Course agenda

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Introduction to Radar Systems Tutorial

Agenda

Introduction Radar Equation Propagation Effects Target Radar Cross Section Detection of Signals in Noise & Pulse Compression Radar Antennas Radar Clutter and Chaff Signal Processing-MTI and Pulse Doppler Tracking and Parameter Estimation Transmitters and Receivers
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References

Skolnik, M., Introduction to Radar Systems, New York, McGraw-Hill, 3rd Edition, 2001 Nathanson, F. E., Radar Design Principles, New York, McGraw-Hill, 2nd Edition, 1991 Toomay, J. C., Radar Principles for the Non-Specialist, New York, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1989 Buderi R., The Invention That Changed the World, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1996

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