Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Sushrut Das
17.1 Introduction
The term RADAR basically stands for “RAdio Detection and Ranging”
and this technique is used to detect a remote object and find necessary
information about it.
RADARs are widely used in many applications like remote sensing, air
traffic control, aircraft safety and navigation, law enforcement in
highway traffic, ship safety, space applications, military and many more.
RADAR advantages are (1) It can see through darkness, fog, rain,
haze and snow and (2) It can determine the range and position very
accurately.
Its limitations are (1) It cannot resolve the target in detail like
human eye, especially at short distance and (2) It cannot recognize
the color of the target.
RADAR can provide information about a target by comparing the
received echo signal with the transmitted signal. This is known as
target classification.
The range measurement of a target is a unique feature of RADAR
that no other sensor is able compete.
Modern RADAR systems posses range resolution better than a
fraction of a meter and can measure a range starting from few meters
to astronomical orders.
By measuring the time gap between the instants the pulse has been
sent and its echo has been received, RADARs determine the distance of
the target.
If we assume T be the time gap and “c” be the velocity of the signal in
the medium then the range of the target will be R cT 2
For the given pulse repetition frequency, if the target lies above this
range then the echo signal will arrive after the transmission of the next
immediate or next few pulses.
In such case the RADAR may not be able to correlate the echo time
and actual transmission time and may give a wrong target location.
The echoes that arrive after the next immediate pulse are called
“second time around echoes”.
4R2
However the RADAR antennas are not isotropic, instead, they
concentrate the radiated power Pt in a particular direction.
So if Gt be the directive gain of the antenna then the power density at a
distance “R” is Power Density Pt Gt2 W/m2
4R
If RADAR cross section of the target be then the radiated power
density back to the RADAR is given by,
t t
PG
Echo Power Density W/m2
4R
2
2
Now if the effective area of the RADAR antenna be A e then the received
power is
Pt Gt A e
Pr W
4R
2
2
The value of “R” for which the received signal Pr just equals the
minimum detectable signal Smin is called maximum RADAR range.
The target lying above this range cannot be detected by the RADAR as
the received power falls below Smin .
Pt Gt A e P G A 4
Smin Pr Rmax t t2 e
4 Smin
2
4Rmax
2
Gt 4A e 2
1 1
P A 4A e
4
Pt A e2 4
Rmax t e
4 Smin 4 Smin
2 2 2
1 1
Again R Pt Gt A e P G2 2
4 4
Rmax t t3
4 Smin
max
4 Smin
2
Gt
2
Ae
4
Rmax t
t
However it is conflicting with equation
1
4 Smin which shows
3
P G A 4
Rmax 1 f and equation Rmax t t2 e shows that Rmax is
4 Smin
independent of .
The correct explanation of the above expressions depends on whether
P G A 4
To make the right hand side of Rmax t t2 e independent of frequency
4 Smin
we must use two antennas with the gain of the transmitting antenna and
F
Si Ni S N
i o N F 1 GNi
So No So Ni So GSi No GNi N
where “k” is the Boltzmann constant, “T” is the temperature in Kelvin and
“B” is the bandwidth of the receiver.
If this equivalent noise power at the input of the receiver is larger than the
minimum detectable power Smin then the target cannot be detected by
the RADAR.
Thus to detect a target Smin must be equal to N and we can write,
1 1
PA
2 4 Pt A
2
4
Rmax t e
e
4 N 4 F 1 GkT0B
2 2
If a parabolic dish antenna with diameter “D” has been used as a
RADAR antenna then A e 0.65D2 4 1
PD
4 4
Plumbing losses:
It is related to the transmission line that connects the transmitter /
receiver with the antenna and other microwave components like rotary
joint, duplexer, receiver protector, directional couplers, bends and others
that are present in the RADAR system.
The total microwave plumbing loss is about 3 dB. Antenna mismatch
also corresponds to plumbing loss.
Antenna losses:
The antenna loss consists of scanning loss, phased array loss and
beam shape loss. Out of these, the scanning loss occurs due to the
movement of the antenna.
If the antenna moves rapidly compared to the round trip transit time then
the directivity of the antenna towards the target during reception time is
not same as that during transmission time.
This is evident because during the round trip transit time the antenna
will change its orientation and hence also the main beam.
This introduces a loss known as scanning loss.
Practical RADAR antenna is often a phased array instead of single
element. Such antenna requires a complex distribution network to connect
the individual antenna elements which introduces a loss known as phased
array loss.
In addition to the above the Radom, a protective shield that is used to
protect the RADAR antenna from environment, also introduces some
losses. This is known as Radom loss.
The overall antenna loss is also about 3 dB.
Collapsing loss:
This loss occurs due to integration of additional noise samples with
the desired RADAR signals. which is about 1 – 3 dB.
Propagation loss:
The reflection and refraction of the signals by earth surface and
medium often increases or decreases the free space range.
This, in turn, increases or decreases the total atmospheric attenuation
loss.
If the threshold level is set too low, noise might exceed it and may be
mistaken as an echo from a target. This is called as “false alarm”.
On the other hand if the threshold level is kept too high then the
echoes from a weak target may not be able cross it and hence the
target is not detected. This is known as “missed detection”.
One of the ways out of the above problems is to set two threshold
levels – one low and the other high.
If the echo signal is below the lower level then it is considered as
noise whereas if the echo signal is above the upper threshold level it is
assumed that target is present.
However, if the echo signal is in between the two levels more careful
observation is required.
The above equation does not indicate whether or not RADAR will be
subjected by excessive false alarm.
In practice the time between the successive false alarms is a better
measure of this.
Pfa TfaB
1 1 VT2
Tfa exp
VT2 B 2 0
Pfa exp
2 0
For the two signs of the Doppler shift the synchronous motor rotates in
two opposite direction.
To illustrate this let us assume that the transmitter signal can be
expressed as E0 E1 cos t
The echo signal be expressed as Er k1E1 cos d t
Therefore the signal at receiver A is EA k2E0 cos d t
The signal at receiver B is EB k 2E0 cos d t
2
For target approaching the RADAR the above two equations can be
written as, EA t k2E0 cos dt and EB t k 2E0 cos d t
2
Thus the signal from receiver B leads the signal from receiver A by
2 and the motor rotates in one particular direction.
Similarly for target going away from the RADAR we can write,
EA t k2E0 cos dt and EB t k 2E0 cos d t
2
Thus the signal from receiver B lags the signal from receiver A by
2 and the motor rotates in the other direction.
4f1R 4f2R
v1r sin 2 f1 fd1 t 1 v
and 2r sin 2 f2 fd2 t 2
c c
where “E” is the energy contained in the signal and N0 is the noise power
/ Hz of bandwidth.
Above equation reveals that greater the f ,lower will be the rms range
error.
However if f becomes too large unambiguous range will be too small.
Therefore f cannot be too large if unambiguous range measurement is
required. I
n practice both high accuracy and unambiguous range measurement
can be achieved by transmitting three or more frequencies.
If three frequencies f1 , f2 and f3 are used such that f3 f1 k f2 f1 where
“k” is a factor of the order 10 or 20 then the pair f3 ,f1 provides an
ambiguous but accurate range measurement whereas the pair f2 ,f1 resolves
the ambiguities in f3 ,f1 measurement.
For further accuracy a fourth frequency is to be transmitted.
To illustrate the range calculation let us consider that the transmitter
frequency is increasing with time in a linear manner.
If the distance of the target from the RADAR is “R’ then the transit time
of the signal is T 2R c
If the echo signal is heterodyned
with a part of the transmitter signal
then due to the frequency
difference between the signals a
beat note fb is produced which
provides information about the
range of the target.
If the transmitter frequency changes at a rate per unit time then the total
transmitter frequency change during the transit time is fr f0 T 2Rf0 c .
1
fr fb1 fb2 and
2
1
fd fb1 fb2
2
If the targets are moving with different velocities then Doppler shift from
each target will superimpose on the respective beat notes and the problem
of resolving targets and measuring their ranges become more complicated.
The complicacy is further increased if the frequency modulation is non-
linear or the mixer is operating in its non- linear region.
In addition to the above, digital delay lines can also be used to obtain
the necessary time delay.
However such delay line requires that the output of the phase detector
must be converted into a digital signal.
The digital processing is compact and also allows the implementation
of more complex delay line canceller with filter characteristic that is not
practical with analog methods.
In practice the delay lines cause attenuation of the signal and hence
they are often followed by an amplifier.
The amplifier, however, has the tendency to insert spurious phase
response.
To insure that the spurious phase response does not affect the normal
performance of the RADAR a second amplifier with similar phase
response but lower gain is also inserted in the undelayed line.
For a MTI RADAR the clutter spectrum has a finite bandwidth and it
appears in the pass band of the delay line canceller.
This results in a non-zero clutter residue that can interfere with the
detection of the moving target.
The clutter rejection can be improved by passing the output of the
single delay line canceller through a second delay line canceller, as
shown in figure (a).
Such delay line canceller is called a double delay line canceller or
simply double canceller.
The comparison of the relative response of double delay line canceller
with single delay line canceller is shown in figure (c) along with the
clutter spectrum.
The figure shows that double delay line canceller has better clutter
rejection than single delay line canceller.
It can be shown that the output of the delay line canceller, shown in
figure (b), is same to that of (a) and is given by f t 2f t T f t 2T .
The configuration, shown in figure (b) is also called three pulse
canceller.
The blind speed is one of the limitations of MTI RADAR and can be
avoided by setting its value greater than the maximum probable radial
velocity of the target.
This requires that or fp or the product fp must be very high.
Unfortunately none of the above can be made arbitrarily large to meet
the requirement.
For a given antenna dimension, a high corresponds to a wider beam
width which may not be satisfactory where high angular accuracy and
angular resolution is required.
Similarly a high prf will decrease the unambiguous RADAR range which
may not be acceptable.
One of the way out to avoid blind speed, is the use of multiple prf.
For such case zero response is obtained only when the blind speed of
each prf coincides with each other.
For example if an MTI RADAR is operating with two separate prfs, in
ration 5:4, on a time shared basis, the blind speed coincides for 4 T1 5 T2 .
In multiple prf MTI RADAR the ratio T1 : T2 must be properly chosen
because as this ratio approaches unity the first blind speed becomes
greater however at the cost of a deeper first null in the vicinity of fd 1 T1 .
It should be noted that Multiple or straggled prf not only reduces the
probability of blind speed but also allows a sharper low frequency cut –
off in the frequency response than a cascaded single delay line cancellers.
The block diagram of a digital delay line canceller is shown.
The output of the IF is equally split into an in-phase channel (or I –
channel) and a Quadrature channel (Q-channel).
The signals in these two channels are out of phase. Such arrangement
eliminates the effect of blind phase.
Before describing how digital delay line removes blind phase let us
first define blind phase using figure (a).
If the pulse sampling occurs at the same point P1 , P2 , P3 in the Doppler
cycle then the phase difference between the successive sampled point will
be zero and the target will appear stationary.
The introduction of I and Q – channel removes this shortcoming.
In the I - channel when a1 is subtracted from a2 , the output will be zero
whereas a residue will remain when a3 is subtracted from a2 .
The reverse is true for Q – channel where when b1 is subtracted from b2 ,
a residue will exist at the output whereas the output will be zero when
b3 is subtracted from b .
2
Thus when the I – channel and Q – channel are combined this will result
in uniform signal with no loss.
It has been already mentioned that the prf cannot be arbitrarily large to
avoid blind speed.
This creates a slight difference between the MTI RADAR and pulsed
Doppler RADAR.
In MTI RADAR the prf is chosen low enough to avoid range ambiguities
but it is subjected to blind speed.
In contrast, in pulsed Doppler RADAR, the prf is set high enough to
avoid blind speed but it is subjected to range ambiguities.
A pulsed Doppler RADAR operates with a high duty cycle and is also
more capable of reducing clutter.
If the prf of pulsed Doppler RADAR is very high then the range
ambiguities is too large to be easily resolved.
The performance of pulsed Doppler RADAR, in such case, approaches
to that of a CW RADAR.
However the advantage of pulsed Doppler RADAR over CW RADAR, in
such condition, is that its detection performance is not limited by the
continuous leakage of transmitting signal as is the case of CW RADAR.
In Pulsed Doppler RADAR the transmitter is off during reception
whereas in CW RADAR the transmitter is always on.
The only thing that reduces the detection capability of pulsed Doppler
RADAR is the blind spots in the range resulting from high prf.
It is required that the leading and trailing edges of a transmitted pulse
should be vertical.
If the leading edge is not vertical then ambiguity may arise about the
precision instant at which the pulse has been returned which, in turn,
may lead to range ambiguity.
On the other hand, if the trailing edge is not vertical then the duplexer
will not be able to instantly switch over to the receiver.
Further the trailing edge of the pulse does not contribute much to the
total transmitted power but has the effect of lengthening the pulse width
which, in turn, puts a limit on the minimum range of RADAR.
In addition to having vertical leading and trailing edge, the pulse must
also be flat top otherwise “frequency pushing” will occur in magnetron
with a result of reduction in efficiency.
B – Type display:
The B – type display is intensity modulated rectangular display where
azimuth angle is indicated by the horizontal co-ordinate and range is
displayed by the vertical co-ordinate.
C – Type display:
The C – type display is intensity modulated rectangular display where
azimuth angle is indicated by the horizontal co-ordinate and elevation
angle is displayed by the vertical co-ordinate.
D – Type display:
The D – type display is intensity modulated rectangular display where
range is indicated by the horizontal co-ordinate and elevation angle is
displayed by the vertical co-ordinate.
In addition there are also different types of RADAR display like E – scope,
F – scope, G – scope, H – scope, I – scope, J – scope, K – scope, L –
scope, M – scope, N – scope, O – scope, R – scope, Range height
indicator etc.
CRT display has some major disadvantages like (1) the entire display is
often big, (2) various associated circuits needed to display the information
in convenient form makes them costly, (3) limited dynamic range or
contrast ratio of the intensity modulated display may cause blooming of
the display by large targets and therefore the blips from nearby smaller
targets may be masked and (4) possibility of collapsing loss.
The availability of color CRT has added a new dimension to the RADAR
displays.
In color CRTs different RADAR parameters such as, target altitude,
cross section etc., may be coded with separate colors.
Alternatively outputs from different RADARs or the outputs from each
beam of a stacked beam RADAR may also be displayed in one CRT by
assigning different colors to different receiver outputs.
A four color display is often used in Air Traffic Control (ATC) with
yellow representing aircraft, green representing for area sector map
lines, red representing navigation aids and orange representing
showering precipitation.
17.12 Tracking with RADAR
One of the major applications of RADAR is target detection and
tracking.
RADAR must find and acquire its target before it can track it.
This requires that the RADAR should scan an angular sector of space
where there is a probability of presence of a target.
Such RADAR is known as search or acquisition RADAR.
In practice it is possible to use the same RADAR for acquisition and
tracking.
If so, the RADAR must find the target in the acquisition mode and then
switch to tracking mode.
To accurately track a target the RADAR antenna should have a narrow
pencil beam, with elevation and azimuth beam width are approximately
equal.
Now if the search volume is large, a relatively long time will be
required to acquire the target. It may be potentially dangerous for some
cases, like in defense RADAR.
Due to this, many RADAR tracking system employs a separate search
RADAR.
The search RADAR finds the position of the target and then send the
information about the target (such as location) to the tracking RADAR.
The tracking RADAR then performs a limited scan around the location,
provided by the search RADAR and, once located, continuously tracks
the target.
The fundamental limitation of such system comes from the system noise
caused be mechanical or electrical fluctuations.
Conical scan:
In conical scanning an offset antenna beam is continuously rotated.
The angle between the axis of the antenna beam and the axis of
rotation is known as squint angle.
If the target is assumed at point “A” then the echo signal will be
modulated at a frequency equal to the rotational frequency of the beam
with the amplitude of the echo signal modulation is a function of
antenna pattern, squint angle and the angle between the target line of
sight and rotational axis.
The phase of the modulation is a function of the angle between the
target line of sight and rotational axis.
For operation the conical scan modulation is first extracted from the
echo signal and then applied to a servo control system.
The servo control system then continuously positions the antenna on
the target.
When the antenna is positioned on the target, the target line of sight
coincides with the rotational axis and the conical scan modulation
becomes zero.
Simultaneous lobing or Monopulse tracking:
If the antenna separation is “d”, the range of the target is “R” and the line
of sight to the target makes an angle to the perpendicular bisector of the
line joining the two antennas then assuming R d we can write
d
R1 R sin and
d
R2 R sin
2 2
The phase difference between the echo signals will be
2dsin
Now if is small then and above equation modifies as 2d
In practice most of the tracking RADAR continuously tracks the target in
angle as well as in range.
The range tracking can be accomplished manually by using an A – scope
or J – scope display.
However if the target is moving with a high speed then it becomes very
difficult to perform the job manually and automatic tracking becomes
necessary.
The automatic tracking in range, in
RADAR, is based on split range gates.
In this procedure two range gates,
known as early gate and late gate, are
generated, as shown in figure (a).
The echo pulses are shown in figure
(b) whereas the error signals are
shown in figure (c).
As evident from the figure, the
signal energy contained in the early
gate is less than that in the late gate.
Now if the two outputs, from the two range gates, are subtracted an
error signal will be developed which can be used to reposition the center
of the gates.
The magnitude of the error signal measures the difference between the
center of the gates and the center of the pulse whereas the sign of the
error signal determines the direction in which the center of the gates
must be repositioned.
When the center of the range gates will coincide with the center of the
pulse, the output from the two gates will be equal and the error signal
will be zero.
The range gatting permits the boxcar generator to be used and also
improves the signal to noise ratio by eliminating noises from other range
intervals.
However to achieve the later, the width of the gates must be sufficiently
narrow.
A narrow range gate can also invite other problem. For example, if the
range gate is too narrow then appreciable fraction of echo signal can be
excluded.
In practice compromise is necessary and the width of the range gate is
often chosen of the order of pulse width.
RADAR that tracks a target at low elevation often receives two echo
signals, one through direct path and the other through surface reflection.
The surface reflected wave can be thought as an echo signal from a
virtual target positioned at the image point of the original target.
These two signals combine in RADAR receiver along with their phases
and results in an angle measurement that is different from its real value.
The surface reflected signal is called as multipath signal and the
corresponding error is called multipath error.
The multipath error depends on the part of the antenna pattern that is
striking the surface.
A TWS system may use different types of gates, such as range, Doppler,
angle etc., to differentiate one target from the others.
When a target is first identified, the TWS system assigns an acquisition
gate to it.
Acquisition gate has fixed boundaries of range and angle and other
possible parameters depending on the system.
When the target is scanned by the RADAR again and if the echo still
falls within this acquisition gate, tracking is initiated by the computer.
TWS system can provide the course and speed of a target by following
the history of target position.
The combination of course, speed, target position and angle of a
target at any time is known as target’s solution.
Once the target solution has been determined, the computer uses a
tracking gate about its predicted position during the next scan.
In the next scan if the target falls within the tracking gate the computer
refines its solution and tracking is continued.
On the other hand if the target does not fall within the tracking gate,
the computer will check to see if the target is within the turning gate.
Turning gate surrounds the tracking gate and encompasses all the
area where the target may be located since the last observation, as
shown in figure.
If the target is located within the
turning gate, the computer finds new
solution.
If the target is located outside the
turning gate, the track is lost.
The system again starts tracking the
system when the target re-appears.
A TWS system also finds difficulty to separately identify the targets when
there are a large number of targets or when the tracks of existing targets
cross each other.
In all such cases the observer may need to intervene to correct the
problem.
The TWS system uses a track file that contains all the observations that
are correlated with the target for each establishment.
Depending on the system, the track file may also contain other
information like current solution, target type etc.
One of the ECCM technique that can be used against noise jamming
is radiation homing.
In radiation homing the seeker is programmed to detect the attempt
of ECM and take advantage out of it.
Present day Anti-Radiation Missiles (ARM) are competent enough to
home in directly on source of RADAR jamming if the jamming is too
powerful to allow them to find and track the target.
This is known as Home on Jam (HOJ).
HOJ makes the missiles job easier because the jammer now behaves as
beacon and indicates the presence of the radiation source and hence
target.
The presence of ARM makes noise jamming more difficult to use
because it may put the jamming vehicle or target at risk of being targeted
and hit by ARMs.
In repeater jamming the target generates a false echo by delaying the
received RADAR signal and retransmitting it at a slightly later time.
This delay basically increases the to and fro travel time of the RADAR
signal and simulates the target at a different location.
In principle this virtual target cannot be separated from the true target
by the RADAR.
A true repeater is one that retransmits the same signal that the target
would radiate in normal case.
In addition to the above, velocity gate stealers are also available to
falsifies the target speed and represent it as a stationary object.
Repeaters jammers can also be used to break conical scan angle track
by transmitting a signal at the conical scan frequency.
It should be noted that repeater jammer may be very effective against
non-prepared RADAR but not much against a prepared one.
Such jammers are easier to counter than noise jammer.
For example monopulse tracker can be used in place of conical
scan tracker to avoid the vulnerability of conical scan tracker,
discussed above.
The RADAR echo signals from a target can generally be considered
as linearly related to the RADAR signal.
On the other hand the repeater jamming signal is not generally
linearly related with the RADAR signal.
Thus a RADAR signal with a form of identification that is difficult to
“mimic” by the “non-linear” repeater can be used to recognize the
echo signal.
By changing the PRFs, pulse width, internal pulse modulation and
polarization it is also possible to unmask the false echoes.
Side lobe blanker, as discussed before, can be easily implemented to
prevent repeater signal from entering through side lobes.
It is also difficult to design a repeater jammer that can produce exact
replica of the RADAR signal.
Passive ECM:
The noise jammer and repeater jammer, discussed above, are the
example of active ECM.
They either generate or amplify electromagnetic energy for ECM
purpose.
Passive ECM techniques, in contrast, do not generate or amplify
electromagnetic signal.
Instead they act in a passive manner to modify the reflected energy.
Examples of passive ECMs are chaffs, decoys, RCS reduction etc.
The Chaff consists of a large number of dipole reflectors in the form
of metallic foil strips.
On being released by an aircraft in bundle, they are scattered by the
wind over a large area and form a reflecting cloud with a cross section
that is comparable with large aircraft.
They are used either to deceive, known as spot chaff, or to confuse,
known as corridor chaff.
Spots chaffs are dropped as individual bundles and appear as
additional targets on the RADAR whereas corridor chaff is produced
by continuously releasing of chaffs by aircraft to form a corridor like
cloud through which following aircraft can fly undetected.
Thus corridor chaffs basically mask the target. Chaffs can also be
used to break “lock” of a target on tracking RADAR.
In the presence of the chaff the tracking RADAR may confuse it as
a target and can start following it instead of the original target and
thus resulting in break “lock”.
Chaffs are slow moving target with its vertical decent is a function
of gravity and drag characteristics of individual foil strip.
Its horizontal velocity is a function of wind speed.
The slow velocity of the chaffs makes them distinguishable from
high speed targets.
This can be easily done with a properly designed MTI RADAR.
In contrast to chaffs, decoys are small aircraft like vehicles that
appear as a real target to RADAR.
The decoys can be fitted with signal enhancement devices like corner
reflectors, Luneburg reflector or active repeaters so that their RCS
become comparable to that of a large aircraft.
In addition they can also be loaded with a jammer to mimic the
jammers on a real target.
This makes the jammer apparently identical with real target.
They can be easily carried onboard of an attack aircraft and launched
outside the normal RADAR detection range.
They can also carry bomb onboard.
Sensitivity K1
Distance to Target Receiver Noise Temperature
4
The maximum tracking range can be expressed as
1
Transmitted Power 4
Maximum tracking range K 2 Antenna area Frequency
Receiver Noise Temperature
The above equations reveal that to increase both the sensitivity of the
system as well as the maximum tracking range, larger antenna area and
higher transmitted power is required.
The above requirements can be achieved by using an antenna array,
instead of single antenna.
If the RADAR pulses reach all the elements at the same instant of time
then a parallel wavefront is launched in a particular direction.
The direction of the wavefront can be controlled by introducing a
linearly increasing phase shift / time delay into the arrival of the pulses
at each element.
Therefore electronic scanning and beam steering become possible.
The electronic scanning and beam steering is used during target
searching period.
Once the target has been detected, a high speed digital computer
takes over and controls the beam orientation to continuously track the
target.
Since a number of antenna elements are being used, the transmitted
power is also large and may be of the order of few MW.
The total noise temperature of a RADAR system is a resultant
combination of different contributions like (1) input noise temperature at
the receiver, (2) component effect and (3) areal noise including the effect
of any side lobe pickup.
Now a days helium cooled MASERs are used that have noise
temperature as low as 200 K .
If the antenna system is looking into the cold sky instead of
The most advancement that has been made in modern RADAR system is
in its signal processing and control function.
The system has now gone completely automatic and the human operator
just monitors the operation to ensure that the correct action is being taken.
17.15 Applications of RADAR
Remote sensing:
RADARs are widely used to remotely sense the weather conditions.
Depending on the condition of the weather, the amplitude of the echo
signals change and hence the received signal gives an idea about the
weather condition.
RADAR remote sensors are also used in (1) Planetary observation, (2)
Short range below the ground probing, (3) Mapping the sea ice etc.
Space applications:
Large ground based RDARs are used to detect and track satellites.
They are also used to detect and study other space objects like meteors,
moon, planets etc. and in establishing an accurate measurement of
astronomical units.
Space vehicles use RADARs for rendezvous and docking the space ship.
Ship safety:
RADARs are used in ships for collision avoidance, observe navigation
buoys and detect iceberg.
Shore based RADARs are used to control river traffic and surveillance of
harbors
Military applications:
RADAR is an integral and very important part of the present day military
systems.
They are widely used to detect and track enemy planes, missiles and
other fixed or moving objects in the battle field.
They are also used to control their own military aircraft, missiles and fuze
weapons.
The missile RADAR guides the missile towards the target.
High resolution imaging RADARs are used for reconnaissance
purposes.
Many of the civilian applications of RADAR are also used by military.
Other applications:
In addition to the above RADARs are also used in several other
applications like, non contact measurement of speed and distance in
industry, oil and gas exploration etc.
Entomologists and ornithologists use RADARs to study the movement
of the insects and birds.
17.16 Radiometry
Radiometry is the technique that is used to gather information about a
target using solely the microwave portion of the blackbody radiation
(noise) that reaches the antenna either directly or by reflection from
surrounding bodies.
Radiometer is the equipment that is used to measure this noise power.
The value of “e” ranges between 0 and 1 and is equal to 1 for a perfect
blackbody.
The emissivity, being unit less, when multiplied by the physical
temperature of the body results in another temperature known as
brightness temperature.
Since the value of “e” is less than one, the brightness temperature is
also less than physical temperature.
The brightness temperature is widely used in radiometry to
characterize the target and is expressed as TB eT
In the receiver circuit the measured noise is added with the inherent
receiver noise and in some cases the receiver noise is much higher than
the measured noise.
The radiometer receiver should be able to distinguish the measured
noise from the receiver noise and efficiently process it.
Total power radiometer:
Above equation reveals that the error due to noise fluctuation can be
minimized if larger measurement time is permissible.
The Dicke radiometer:
For typical cases the brightness temperature varies between 50K – 300K.
Therefore the reference noise source should also cover this range.
However it is very difficult to achieve this requirement and several
modifications in the above radiometer receiver have been proposed.
One possible modification is to use a fixed reference noise temperature,
greater than brightness temperature, and then to control the amount of
reference noise power delivered to the system by varying the pulse width
of the sampling waveform.
An alternative method is to use a fixed reference noise power and then to
vary the gain of the IF amplifier during the reference sample time so that a
null is achieved.
17.17 Other Applications of Microwave
Microwave Heating:
Microwave oven:
A microwave oven consists of a magnetron tube operating at 2.45 GHz /
915 MHz, a waveguide feed operating in the mode, an oven cavity and a
mode stirrer (basically a metallic fan blade).
The rotating mode stirrer reflects the microwave energy in all directions
and statistically a uniform field is produced.
The uniform field, in turn, reduces uneven heating caused by standing
waves in the oven.
The food table is also rotated with a motorized platter to further insure
uniform heating.
A plastic ceiling shield is placed between the stirrer and the oven cavity
for environmental protection.
Since the microwave cooks the food from inside to outside, an electric
heater is often used to brown the food so that it appears as conventionally
cooked food from outside.
The typical input power to microwave cavity is about 1 - 1.5 kW.
In a typical microwave cavity both the cooking time and the
temperature can be controlled using a microprocessor based control
circuit.
While the temperature is sensed from the exhaust air outside the oven
cavity, the time of cooking is predetermined for certain ranges of food.
During preparation of the food the user initially sets the temperature and
time of cooking and once the time is elapsed the microwave is switched off
automatically.
Medical application:
Thickness measurement:
The phase shifter is adjusted so that the resonant cavity has a resonance
frequency equal to the signal frequency for the given metal thickness.
This insures a minimum reflection coefficient at the measurement
plane.
Now if there is any change in the metal thickness then the measured
reflection coefficient deviates from its minimum value.
By noting the variation in measured reflection coefficient, the variation
in sheet thickness can be detected.
If the metal thickness is uniform then any change in the position of the
metal plate will not change the overall cavity length and hence have no
effect on measurement.
If the signal frequency is changed, the resonant frequency of the cavity
can also be changed by adjusting the phase shifter.
Here the source is connected to
the H –plane arm and the detector
is placed in the E – plane arm.
The plane at which reflection
coefficient is to be measured is
connected to one of the collinear
arms while a tuner and matched
termination is connected to the
other collinear arm.
The tuner is initially adjusted such that the reflected powers in the two
collinear arms are equal and in phase and a null is detected.
Now if the reflection coefficient in test arm is changed from the initial
value for any reason then the null condition voids and a deflection in the
indication meter is observed.
The meter can be calibrated in terms of measurement parameter so that
the value of the parameter can be measured directly.