RADAR REMOTE SENSING FROM SPACE

Basic Principle of Operation

The basic principle of operation of primary radar is simple to understand. However, the theory can be quite
complex. An understanding of the theory is essential in order to be able to specify and operate primary radar
systems correctly. The implementation and operation of primary radars systems involve a wide range of
disciplines such as building works, heavy mechanical and electrical engineering, high power microwave
engineering, and advanced high speed signal and data processing techniques. Some laws of nature have a
greater importance here.

Radar measurement of range, or distance, is made possible because of the properties of radiated
electromagnetic energy.

This energy normally travels through space in a straight line, at a constant speed, and will vary
only slightly because of atmospheric and weather conditions. (The effects atmosphere and weather
have on this energy will be discussed later; however, for this discussion on determining range,
these effects will be temporarily ignored.
Electromagnetic energy travels through air at approximately the speed of light,
o 300,000 kilometers per second or
o 186,000 statute miles per second or
o 162,000 nautical miles per second.
Reflection of electromagnetic waves: The electromagnetic waves are reflected if they meet an
electrically leading surface. If these reflected waves are received again at the place of their origin,
then that means an obstacle is in the propagation direction.

Figure 1: Radar Principle - The measuring of a round trip time of a microwave

Parag Jyoti Dutta

Assistant Professor, Department of Geology, Cotton College, Guwahati 781 001
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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

Figure 2: shows the Operating Principle of Primary Radar. The radar antenna illuminates the target with
a microwave signal, which is then reflected and picked up by a receiving device. The electrical signal picked
up by the receiving antenna is called echo or return. The radar signal is generated by a powerful transmitter
and received by a highly sensitive receiver.

Figure 2: Block Diagram of Primary Radar

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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

All targets produce a diffuse reflection i.e. it is reflected in a wide number of directions . The reflected signal
is also called scattering. Backscatter is a term given to reflections in the opposite direction to incident rays.

Radar signals can be displayed on the traditional plan position indicator (PPI) or other more advanced radar
display systems. A PPI has a rotating vector with the radar at the origin, which indicates the pointing
direction of the antenna and hence the bearing of targets.

The electronic principle on which radar operates is very similar to the principle of sound-wave reflection. If
you shout in the direction of a sound-reflecting object (like a rocky canyon or cave), you will hear an echo. If
you know the speed of sound in air, you can then estimate the distance and general direction of the object.
The time required for an echo to return can be roughly converted to distance if the speed of sound is known.

Radar uses electromagnetic energy pulses in much the same way, as shown in Figure 1. The radio-
frequency (rf) energy is transmitted to and reflected from the reflecting object. A small portion of the reflected
energy returns to the radar set. This returned energy is called an ECHO, just as it is in sound terminology.
Radar sets use the echo to determine the direction and distance of the reflecting object.

RADAR is an acronym for RAdio (Aim) Detecting And Ranging

The word Aim was inserted approximately during the time of World War II
Later, it was left out, since RADAR doesn't concern only aims.

The distance is determined from the running time of the high-frequency transmitted signal and the

propagation c0. The actual range of a target from the radar is known as slant range. Slant range is the line
of sight distance between the radar and the object illuminated. While ground range is the horizontal distance
between the emitter and its target and its calculation requires knowledge of the target's elevation. Since the
waves travel to a target and back, the round trip time is dividing by two in order to obtain the time the wave
took to reach the target. Therefore the following formula arises for the slant range:

R = (C0 x t) 2

-8 -1
Where, C0 = Velocity of light = 3 x 10 m.s
T = Measured time (s)
R = Slant Range (m)

The Distances are expressed in kilometers or nautical miles.

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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

Derivation of the Equation

Range is the distance from the radar site to the target measured along the line of sight.

The factor of two in the formula comes from the observation that the radar pulse must travel to the target
and back before detection, or twice the range.

Where C 0= 3108 m/s, is the speed of light at which all electromagnetic waves propagate.

v=st=2Rt

R = (C0 x t) 2

Where, v = speed (m/s)

s = range (m)
t = time (s)

If the respective running time t is known, then the distance R between a target and the radar set can be
calculated by using this equation.

The angular determination of the target is determined by the directivity of the antenna. Directivity, sometimes
known as the directive gain, is the ability of the antenna to concentrate the transmitted energy in a particular
direction. An antenna with high directivity is also called a directive antenna. By measuring the direction in
which the antenna is pointing when the echo is received, both the azimuth and elevation angles from the
radar to the object or target can be determined. The accuracy of angular measurement is determined by the
directivity, which is a function of the size of the antenna.

Radar units usually work with very high frequencies. Reasons for this are:

QUASI-OPTICAL propagation of these waves.

High resolution (the smaller the wavelength, the smaller the objects the radar is able to detect).
Higher the frequency, smaller the antenna size at the same gain.

The True Bearing (referenced to true north) of a radar target is the angle between true north and a line
pointed directly at the target. This angle is measured in the horizontal plane and in a clockwise direction
from true north. (The bearing angle to the radar target may also be measured in a clockwise direction from
the centerline of your own ship or aircraft and is referred to as the relative bearing.)

Figure 3: Variation of echo signal strength

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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

The antennas of most radar systems are designed to radiate energy in a one-directional lobe or beam that
can be moved in bearing simply by moving the antenna. As you can see in the Figure 2, the shape of the
beam is such that the echo signal strength varies in amplitude as the antenna beam moves across the
target. In actual practice, search radar antennas move continuously; the point of maximum echo, determined
by the detection circuitry or visually by the operator, is when the beam points direct at the target. Weapons -
control and guidance radar systems are positioned to the point of maximum signal return and maintained at
that position either manually or by automatic tracking circuits.

In order to have an exact determination of the bearing angle, a survey of the north direction is necessary.
Therefore, older radar sets must expensively be surveyed either with a compass or with help of known
trigonometrical points. More modern radar sets take on this task and with help of the NAVSTAR (NAVigation
System with Timing And Ranging (U.S. Defense-Air Force Managed) GPS (Global Positioning System)
satellites determine the north direction independently.

Transfer of Bearing Information

The rapid and accurate transmission of the bearing information between the turntable with the mounted
antenna and the scopes can be carried out for

Servo Systems, and,

Counting Of Azimuth Change Pulses.

Servo Systems are used in older radar antennas and missile launchers and works with help of devices like
synchro torque transmitters and synchro torque receivers. In modern radar units we find a system of
Azimuth-Change-Pulses (ACP). In every rotation of the antenna a coder sends many pulses, these are
then counted in the scopes.

Modern RADAR units work completely without or with a partial mechanical motion. These RADARs employ
electronic phase scanning in bearing and/or in elevation (phased-array-antenna).

Antenna Gain
Independent of the use of a given antenna for transmitting or receiving, an important
characteristic of this antenna is the gain. Some antennas are highly directional; that is, more
energy is propagated in certain directions than in others. The ratio between the amount of energy
propagated in these directions compared to the energy that would be propagated if the antenna
were not directional (Isotropic Radiation) is known as its gain. When a transmitting antenna with a
certain gain is used as a receiving antenna, it will also have the same gain for receiving.
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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

Aperture
The effective aperture of an antenna Ae is the area presented to the radiated or received signal. It
is a key parameter, which governs the performance of the antenna. The gain is related to the
effective area by the following relationship:

G = 4 p Ae / ?2

Ae = Ka A
A = physical area of the antenna
Ka = antenna aperture efficiency
? = wavelength
Ae= effective antenna aperture

The aperture efficiency depends on the distribution of the illumination across the aperture. If this
is linear then Ka= 1. This high efficiency is offset by the relatively high level of sidelobes obtained
with linear illumination. Therefore, antennas with more practical levels of sidelobes have an
antenna aperture efficiency less than one (A e< A).

Beam Width
The angular range of the antenna pattern in which at least half of the maximum power is still
emitted is described as a Beam Width. Bordering points of this major lobe are therefore the
points at which the field strength has fallen in the room around 3 dB regarding the maximum field
strength. This angle is then described as beam width or aperture angle or half power (- 3 dB)
angle - with notation T (also f ). The beamwidth T is exactly the angle between the 2 red marked
directions in the upper pictures. The angle T can be determined in the horizontal plane (with
notation T AZ ) as well as in the vertical plane (with notation T EL)

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

A Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is a coherent side-looking airborne system which utilizes the flight path of
the aircraft to simulate an extremely large antenna or aperture electronically and that generates high-
resolution remote sensing imagery. Over time, individual transmit/receive cycles (PRT's) are completed with
the data from each cycle being stored electronically. The signal processing uses magnitude and phase of
the received signals over successive pulses from elements of a synthetic aperture. After a given number of
cycles, the stored data is recombined (taking into account the Doppler Effects inherent in the different
transmitter to target geometry in each succeeding cycle) to create a high resolution image of the terrain
being over flown.
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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

How does SAR works?

Figure 2: The synthesized expanding beam-width

The SAR works similar of a phased array, but contrary of a large number of the parallel antenna elements of
a phased array, SAR uses one antenna in time-multiplex. The different geometric positions of the antenna
elements are result of the moving platform now.

The SAR-processor stores all the radar returned signals, as amplitudes and phases, for the time period T
from position A to D. Now it is possible to reconstruct the signal which would have been obtained by an
antenna of length v T, where v is the platform speed. As the line of sight direction changes along the radar
platform trajectory, a synthetic aperture is produced by signal processing that has the effect of lengthening
the antenna. Making T large makes the synthetic aperture large and hence a higher resolution can be
achieved.

As a target (like a ship) first enters the radar beam, the backscattered echoes from each transmitted pulse
begin to be recorded. As the platform continues to move forward, all echoes from the target for each pulse
are recorded during the entire time that the target is within the beam. The point at which the target leaves
the view of the radar beam some time later, determines the length of the simulated or synthesized antenna.
The synthesized expanding beamwidth, combined with the increased time a target is within the beam as
ground range increases, balance each other, such that the resolution remains constant across the entire
swath.

The achievable azimuth resolution of a SAR is approximately equal to one-half the length of the actual (real)
antenna and does not depend on platform altitude (distance).
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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

Figure 3. - Principle of SAR- operation

The Requirements Are:

Stable, Full-Coherent Transmitter

An Efficient And Powerful SAR-Processor, And
Exactly Knowledge Of The Flight Path And The Velocity Of The Platform.

Using such a technique, radar designers are able to achieve resolutions which would require real aperture
antennas so large as to be impractical with arrays ranging in size up to 10 m.

Synthetic Aperture Radar

A Synthetic Aperture Radar was used on board of an Space Shuttle during the Shuttle Radar Topography
Mission (SRTM).

SAR radar is partnered by what is termed Inverse SAR (abbreviated to ISAR) technology which in the
broadest terms, utilizes the movement of the target rather than the emitter to create the synthetic aperture.
ISAR radars have a significant role aboard maritime patrol aircraft to provide them with radar image of
sufficient quality to allow it to be used for target recognition purposes.
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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

Slant-range distortion

The slant-range dis tortion occurs because the radar is measuring the distance to features in slant-range
rather than the true horizontal distance along the ground. This results in a varying image scale, moving from
near to far range.

Figure 4: Foreshortening
Foreshortening occurs when the radar beam reaches the base of a tall feature tilted towards the radar (e.g.
a mountain) before it reaches the top. Because the radar measures distance in slant-range, the slope (a to
b) will appear compressed and the length of the slope will be represented incorrectly (a' to b') at the image
plane.

Figure 5: Layover

Layover occurs when the radar beam reaches the top of a tall feature (b) before it reaches the base (a).
The return signal from the top of the feature will be received before the signal from the bottom. As a result,
the top of the feature is displaced towards the radar from its true position on the ground, and lays over the
base of the feature (b' to a').

Figure 6: Shadowing

The shadowing effect increases with greater incident angle ?, just as our shadows lengthen as the sun
sets.
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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

Moving Targets in SAR

Ideally, the SAR processor focuses the targets using the phase history. SAR processors usually assume
that the scattering points within the SAR scene are stationary during the time of data collection. Each point
within the scene is then characterized by a unique phase history, and the SAR processor exploits this
uniqueness to place the point within the scene.

Depending on the particulars of the motion (direction, speed), the uncompensated phase may result in a
wide range of phenomena, from a simple shift in position of the target (constant direction and speed during
the measurement) to a smearing making the target impossible to see (changing of direction or speed during
the measurement). E.g. you can see this phenomen in radarmaps of maritime scenes, that the ships are
depicted beside its own bow wave. Moving targets in SAR images can be analysed and focused using time-
frequency techniques. This makes it possible to differentiate moving targets from stationary background
(Clutter) and to relocate the moving targets shift in position.

Classification of RADAR Systems

Depending on the desired information, radar sets must have different qualities and technologies. One
reason for these different qualities and techniques radar sets are classified in:

Imaging Radar / Non-Imaging Radar

An Imaging Radar forms a picture of the observed object or area. Imaging radars have been used to map
the Earth, other planets, asteroids, other celestial objects and to categorize targets for military systems.

Typically implementations of a Non-Imaging Radar system are speed gauges and radar altimeters. These
are also called scatter meters since they measure the scattering properties of the object or region being
observed. Non-Imaging Secondary Radar applications are immobilizer systems in some recent private cars.

Primary Radar
A Primary Radar transmits high-frequency signals which are reflected at targets. The arised echoes are
received and evaluated. This means, unlike secondary radar sets a primary radar unit receive it's own
emitted signals as an echo again.

Secondary Radar
At these radar sets the airplane must have a transponder (transmitting res ponder) on board and this
transponder responds to interrogation by transmitting a coded reply signal. This response can contain much
more information, than a primary radar unit is able to acquire (E.g. an altitude, an identification code or also
any technical problems on board such as a radiocontact loss ...).
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M.Sc. 1st Semester Class Handout: RADAR Remote Sensing from Space

Pulsed Radars
Pulse radar sets transmit a high-frequency impulse signal of high power. After this impulse signal, a longer
break follows in which the echoes can be received, before a new transmitted signal is sent out. Direction,
distance and sometimes if necessary the height or altitude of the target can be determined from the
measured antenna position and propagation time of the pulse-signal.

Continuous- Wave Radar

CW radar sets transmit a high-frequency signal continuously. The echo signal is received and processed.
The receiver need not to be mounted at the same place as the transmitter. Every firm civil radio transmitter
can work as a radar transmitter at the same time, if a remote receiver compares the propagation times of the
direct signal with the reflected one. Tests are known that the correct location of an airplane can be
calculated from the evaluation of the signals by three different television stations.

Unmodulated CW- Radar

The transmitted signal of these equipments is constant in amplitude and frequency. These equipment is
specialized in speed measurings. Distances cannot be measured. E.g. they are used as speed gauges for
police. Newest equipments (LIDAR) work in the laser frequency range and measure not only the speed.

Modulated CW- Radar

The transmitted signal is constant in the amplitude but modulated in the frequency. This one gets possible
after the principle of the propagation time measurement with that again. It is an advantage of this equipment
that an evaluation is carried out without reception break and the measurement result is therefore
continuously available. These radar sets are used where the measuring distance isn't too large and it's
necessary a continuous measuring (e.g. an altitude measuring in airplanes or as weather radar/windprofiler).

A similar principle is also used by radar sets whose transmitting impulse is too long to get a well distance
resolution. Often this equipment modulate its transmitting pulse to obtain a distance resolution within the
transmitting pulse with the help of the pulse compression.

Bistatic Radar Sets

A bistatic radar consists of a separated (by a considerable distance) transmitting and receiving sites.