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Radar Systems - Unit-4 PDF

This document discusses Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) radar. FMCW radar works by transmitting a signal with a frequency that changes linearly over time. The distance to a target can be determined by comparing the frequency of the received echo to that of the transmitted signal. Any difference in frequency, Δf, is proportional to the round-trip travel time and distance. FMCW radar can also measure target velocity using Doppler shift. The beat frequency observed contains contributions from both range and Doppler shift that can be extracted using averaging and differencing of the measured frequencies.
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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
206 views

Radar Systems - Unit-4 PDF

This document discusses Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) radar. FMCW radar works by transmitting a signal with a frequency that changes linearly over time. The distance to a target can be determined by comparing the frequency of the received echo to that of the transmitted signal. Any difference in frequency, Δf, is proportional to the round-trip travel time and distance. FMCW radar can also measure target velocity using Doppler shift. The beat frequency observed contains contributions from both range and Doppler shift that can be extracted using averaging and differencing of the measured frequencies.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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UNIT-IV
FM-CW
RADARR

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Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave Radar:

CW radars have the disadvantage that they cannot measure distance, because it lacks the
timing mark necessary to allow the system to time accurately the transmit and receive cycle
and convert the measured round-trip-time into range. In order to correct for this problem,
phase or frequency shifting methods can be used. In the frequency shifting method, a signal
that constantly changes in frequency around a fixed reference is used to detect stationary
objects and to measure the rage. In such Frequency-Modulated Continuous Wave radars
(FMCW), the frequency is generally changed in a linear fashion, so that there is an up-and-down
or a sawtooth-like alternation in frequency. If the frequency is continually changed with time,
the frequency of the echo signal will differ from that transmitted and the difference Δf will be
proportional to round trip time Δt and so the range R of the target too. When a reflection is
received, the frequencies can be examined, and by comparing the received echo with the actual
step of transmitted frequency, you can do a range calculation similar to using pulses:

transmitted s l

received
ec signal

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R = c0|Δt|/2= c0|Δf|/(2df/dt)

Where: c0 = speed of light = 3·108 m/s

Δt = measured time-difference [s]

R = distance altimeter to terrain [m]

df/dt = transmitters frequency shift per unit time

Characteristic Feature of FMCW radar:

1. The distance measurement is done by comparing the actual frequency of the


received signal to a given reference (usually direct the transmitted signal)

2. The duration of the transmitted signal is much larger than the time required for
measuring the installed maximum range of the radar

Doppler direction in FMCW radar:

A block diagram illustrating the principle of the FM-CW radar is shown in Fig. A
portion of the transmitter signal acts as the reference signal required to produce the beat
frequency. It is introduced directly into the receiver via a cable or other direct connection.
Ideally the isolation between transmitting and receiving antennas is made sufficiently large so
as to reduce to a negligible level the transmitter leakage signal which arrives at the receiver via
the coupling between antennas. The beat frequency is amplified and limited to remove any
amplitude fluctuations. The frequency of the amplitude-limited beat note is measured with a
cycle-counting frequency meter calibrated in distance.

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Fig: Block diagram of FM-CW radar

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In the above, the target was assumed to be stationary. If this assumption is not
applicable, a Doppler frequency shift will be superimposed on the FM range beat note and
an erroneous range measurement results.

The Doppler frequency shift causes the frequency-time plot of the echo signal to
be shifted up or down (Fig. 4.1.2 (a)). On one portion of the frequency-modulation cycle the
heat frequency (Fig, 4.1.2 (b)) is increased by the Doppler shift, while on the other portion it is
decreased. If for example, the target is approaching the radar, the beat frequency fb(up)
produced during the increasing, or up, portion of the FM cycle will be the difference between
the beat frequency due to the range from and the doppler frequency shift fd. Similarly, on the
decreasing portion, the beat frequency, fb(down) is the sum of the two.

fb(up) = fr - fd and fb(down) = fr + fd

The range frequency fr, may be extracted by measuring the average beat
frequency; That is, fr = 1/2[fb(up) + fb(down)].

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Fig: Frequency-time relation-ships in FM-CW radar when the fr + fd received signal is shifted
in frequency by the doppler effect (a) Transmitted (solid curve) and echo (dashed curve); (b)
beat frequency.

If fb(up) and fb(down) are measured separately, for example, by switching a frequency
counter every half modulation cycle, one-half the difference between the frequencies will
yield the doppler frequency. This assumes fr > fd.

If, on the other hand, fr < fd such as might occur with a high-speed target at short
range,

the roles of the averaging and the difference-frequency measurements are reversed; the
averaging meter will measure Doppler velocity, and the difference meter, range. If it is not
known that the roles of the meters are reversed because of a change in the inequality sign
between fr and fd an incorrect interpretation of the measurements may result.

Derive an expression for range and Doppler measurement for FMCW radar:

In the frequency-modulated CW radar (abbreviated as FM-CW), the transmitter


frequency is changed as a function of time in a known manner. Assume that the transmitter
frequency increases linearly with time, as shown by the solid line in Fig (a).

If there is a reflecting object at a distance R, an echo signal will return after a time T =

2R/c. The dashed line in the figure represents the echo signal. If the echo signal is heterodyned
with a portion of the transmitter signal in a nonlinear element such as a diode, a beat note fb
will be produced.

If there is no Doppler frequency shift, the beat note (difference frequency) is a measure
of the target's range and fb = fr where fr is the beat frequency due only to the target's range.
If the rate of change of the carrier frequency is f0, the beat frequency is

fr = f0T = 2Rf0/c

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In any practical CW radar, the frequency cannot be continually changed in one direction
only. Periodicity in the modulation is necessary, as in the triangular frequency-modulation
waveform shown in Fig(b).

The modulation need not necessarily be triangular; it can be sawtooth, sinusoidal,


or some other shape. The resulting beat frequency as a function of time is shown in Fig(c) for
triangular modulation. The beat note is of constant frequency except at the turn around region.
If the frequency is modulated at a rate fm over a range Δf, the beat frequency is

fr = 2*2Rfm/c = 4RfmΔf /c

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Thus the measurement of the beat frequency determines the range


R.

R = cfr/4fmΔf

Fig: Frequency-time relationships in FM-CW radar. Solid curve represents transmitted signal,
dashed curve represents echo. (a) Linear frequency modulation; (b) triangular frequency
modulation; (c) beat note of (b).

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Principle of operation of FMCW Altimeter:

The FM-CW radar principle is used in the aircraft radio altimeter to measure
height above the surface of the earth. The large backscatter cross section and the relatively
short ranges required of altimeters permit low transmitter power and low antenna gain. Since
the relative motion between the aircraft and ground is small, the effect of the Doppler
frequency shift may usually be neglected.

The band from 4.2 to 4.4 G Hz is reserved for radio altimeters, although they have in the
past operated at UHF. The transmitter power is relatively low and can be obtained from a CW
magnetron, a backward-wave oscillator, or a reflex klystron, but these have been replaced by
the solid state transmitter.

The altimeter can employ a simple homodyne receiver, but for better sensitivity and
stability the superheterodyne is to be preferred whenever its more complex construction can
be tolerated.

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A block diagram of the FM-CW radar with a sideband superheterodyne receiver shown in
Fig. A portion of the frequency-modulated transmitted signal is applied to a mixer along with
the oscillator signal. The selection of the local-oscillator freq uency is a bit different from that in
the usual superheterodyne receiver.

The local-oscillator frequency f IF should be the same as the intermediate frequency


used in the receiver, whereas in the conventional superheterodyne the LO frequency is of the
same order of magnitude as the RF signal.

The output of the mixer consists of the varying transmitter frequency f o(t) plus two
sideband frequencies, one on either side of f o(t) and separated from fo(t) by the local-oscillator
frequency fIF. The filter selects the lower sideband fo(t) - f IF and rejects the carrier and the upper
sideband.

The sideband that is passed by the filter is modulated in the same fashion as the
transmitted signal. The sideband filter must have sufficient bandwidth to pass the
modulation, but not the carrier or other sideband. The filtered sideband serves the function of
the local oscillator.

When an echo signal is present, the output of the receiver mixer is an IF signal of
frequency fIF + fb where fb is composed of the range frequency fr and the doppler velocity
frequency fd. The IF signals is amplified and applied to the balanced detector along with the
localoscillator signal f IF. The output of the detector contains the beat frequency (range
frequency and the Doppler velocity frequency), which is amplified to a level where it can
actuate the frequencymeasuring circuits.

In Fig. the output of the low-frequency amplifier is divided into two channels: one feeds
an average-frequency counter to determine range, the other feeds a switched frequency
counter to determine the doppler velocity (assuming fr > fd) Only the averaging frequency
counter need be used in an altimeter application, since the rate of change of altitude is usually

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small.

Fig: Block diagram of FM-CW radar using sideband superheterodyne receiver

EFFECT OF NOISE SIGNALS ON FM ALTIMETER:

The different noise signals occurring in a typical FM altimeter are:

 Due to the mismatch in impedance a part transmitted signal gets reflected from the
space causing error in the altimeter.

 The mismatch between the sideband filter and receiving gives rise to standing
wave pattern.

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 The leakage signal due to the transmitting and receiving antennas reach the receiver
and cause error..

 The double bounce signal.

Hence the different noise signals accompanying the transmitted signal may reach
the receiver and effect its.

Advantages of FMCW altimeter over pulse based altimeter and


compare both?

 What is the difference between altimeter and cabin altimeter: The main
difference between altimeter and cabin altimeter is the place where they take
their pressure: Altimeter takes the pressure from static ports, while cabin altimeter
takes it's pressure from the cabin.

 Difference of radio altimeter to radar altimeter: They're both the same thing

 What is an altimeter: The altimeter is basically a specialized pressure gauge. It


measures the pressure of the column of air above it. As the altitude varies, the air
column height varies, which registers on the
altimeter. Since the air pressure also varies with changes in the barometric pressure,
altimeters must have an adjustment to compensate for changes in local barometric
pressure.

Sinusoidally modulated FM-CW radar:

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The block diagram for sinusoidally modulated FM-CW radar extracting the third
harmonic is shown in fig.

The ability of the FM-CW radar to measure range provides an additional basis for
obtaining isolation. Echoes from short-range targets-including the leakage signal may be
attenuated relative to the desired target echo from longer ranges by properly processing the
difference frequency signal obtained by heterodyning the transmitted and received signals.

If the CW carrier is frequency-modulated by a sine wave, the difference frequency


obtained by heterodyning the returned signal with a portion of the transmitter signal may be
expanded in a trigonometric series whose terms are the harmonics of the modulating
frequency fm.

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Fig: sinusoidally modulated FM-CW radar extracting the third harmonic.

Assume the form of the transmitted signal to be

Where,

fo = carrier frequency, fm = modulation frequency

Δf = frequency excursion (equal to twice the frequency derivation)

The difference frequency signal may be written as

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Where J0, J1, J2, etc = Bessel functions of first kind and order 0, 1, 2, etc., respectively

D = (Δf/fm) sin (2πfmR0/c)

R0 = distance to target at time t = 0 (distance that would have been measured if target
were stationary)

c = velocity of propagation, fd = doppler frequency shift


vr = relative velocity of target with respect to radar

φ0 = phase shift approxirnately equal to angular distance 2π f0R0/c

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φm = phase shift approxirnately equal to 2πfmR0/c

The difference-frequency signal consists of a doppler-frequency component of


amplitude Jo(D) and a series of cosine waves of frequency fm, 2fm, etc. Each of these
harmonics of fm is modulated by a doppler-frequency component with amplitude proportional
to Jn(D). The product of the doppler-frequency factor times the nth harmonic factor is
equivalent to a suppressed- carrier double-sideband modulation.

The above figure shows a plot of several of the Bessel functions. The argument D of the
Bessel function is proportional to range. The Jo amplitude applies maximu response to signals at
zero range in radar that extracts the d-c doppler-frequency component. This is the range at
which the leakage signal and its noise conlponents (including microphony and vibration) are
found. At greater ranges, where the target is expected, the effect of the Jo Bessel function is to
reduce the echo-signal amplitude in comparison with the echo at zero range (in addition to the
normal range attenuation). Therefore, if the Jo term were used, it would enhance the leakage
signal and reduce the target signal.

BANK OF NARROW BAND FILTERS IN FMCW RADAR:

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The mixer output of FMCW Radar will contain more than one difference frequency, when more
than one target is present within the view of Radar. In a linear system, each target is associated
with a frequency component.

By measuring the individual frequency component, we can determine the range to each
target and the following equation is applied to each frequency component

i.e., fr = 4RfmΔf /c

The above frequency component must be separated from one another to measure the
individual frequencies. Thus, the requirement of a single frequency corresponding to a single
target can be accomplished and continuously observed by a bank of narrow band filters.

But for the following cases, the problem of resolving targets and measuring the range of each
becomes more complicated.

 If the motion of the targets were to produce a Doppler frequency shift.

 If the frequency modulation waveforms were non linear.

 If the mixers were not operated in its linear region.

Multiple frequency CW radar:

The multiple frequency CW radar is used to measure the accurate range.

The transmitted waveform is assumed to consist of two continuous sine waves of


frequency f1 and f2 separated by an amount Δf. Let the amplitudes of all signals are equal
to unity. The voltage waveforms of the two components of the transmitted signal v1r and v2r,
may

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be written
as

v1r = sin (2πf1t + φ1)

v2r = sin (2πf2t + φ2)

Where φ1 and φ2 are arbitrary (constant) phase angles.

The echo signal is shifted in frequency by the Doppler Effect. The form of the
dopplershifted signals at each of the two frequencies f1 and f2 may be written as

Where, Ro = range to target at a particular time t = t0 (range that would be measured if


target were not moving)

fd1 = Doppler frequency shift associated with frequency f1

fd2 = Doppler frequency shift associated with frequency f2

Since the two RF frequencies f1, and f2 are approximately the same the doppler
frequency shifts fd1 and fd2 are approximately equal to one another. Therefore, fd1 = fd2 = fd

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The receiver separates the two components of the echo signal and heterodynes
each received signal component with the corresponding transmitted waveform and extracts the
two doppler-frequency components given below:

The phase difference between these two components is

Hence

A large difference in frequency between the two transmitted signals improves the
accuracy of the range measurement since large Δf means a proportionately large change in
Δφfor a given range. However, there is a limit to the value of Δf, since Δφ cannot be greater
than 2π radians if the range is to remain unambiguous. The maximum unambiguous range
Runamb is Runamb = c/2Δf

The two-frequency CW radar is essentially single target radar since only one phase

difference can be measured at a time. If more than one target is present, the echo signal
becomes complicated and the meaning of the phase measurement is doubtful.

Measurement Errors:

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The absolute accuracy of radar altimeters is usually of more importance at low altitudes
than at high altitudes. Errors of a few meters might not be of significance when cruising at
altitudes of 10 km, but are important if the altimeter is part of a blind landing system.

The theoretical accuracy with which distance can be measured depends upon the
bandwidth of the transmitted signal and the ratio of signal energy to noise energy. In addition,
measurement accuracy might be limited by such practical restrictions as the accuracy of the
frequency-measuring device, the residual path-length error caused by the circuits
and transmission lines, errors caused by multiple reflections and transmitter leakage, and the
frequency error due to the turn-around of the frequency modulation.

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A common form of frequency-measuring device is the cycle counter, which


measures the number of cycles or half cycles of the beat during the modulation period.
The total cycle count is a discrete- number since the counter is unable to measure
fractions of a cycle. The discreteness of the frequency measurement gives rise to an
error called the fixed error, or step error. It has also been called the quantization
error, a more descriptive name. The average number of cycles N of the beat
frequency fb in one period of the modulation cycle fm is fb /fm , where the bar
over, denotes time average.

R = cN/4Δf

Where, R = range (altitude). m

c = velocity of propagation. m/s

Δf = frequency excursion. Hz

Since the output of the frequency counter N is an integer, the range will be an
integral multiple of c/4Δf and will give rise to a quantization error equal to

δR = c/4Δf

δR (m) = 75/Δf ( MHz)

Since the fixed error is due to the discrete nature of the frequency counter, its
effects can be reduced by wobbling the modulation frequency or the phase of the
transmitter output. Wobbling the transmitter phase results in a wobbling of the phase
of the beat signal so that an average reading of the cycle counter somewhere between
N and N + 1 will be obtained on a normal meter movement. In one altimeter, the
modulation frequency was varied at a 10-Hz rate, causing the phase shift of the beat
signal to vary cyclically with time. The indicating system was designed so that it did not

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respond to the l0-Hz modulation directly, but it caused the fixed error to be averaged.
Normal fluctuations in aircraft altitude due to uneven terrain, waves on the water, or
turbulent air can also average out the fixed error provided the time constant of the
indicating device is large compared with the time between fluctuations. Over smooth
terrain, such as an airport runway, the fixed error might not be averaged out.

Target motion can cause an error in range equal to vr T0, where vr, is the
relative velocity and To is the observation time. The residual path error is the error
caused by delays in the circuitry and transmission lines.

Multipath signals also produce error. Reflections from the landing gear can also cause
errors.

The unwanted signals in FM altimeter:

The fig. shows some of the unwanted signals that might occur in the FM altimeter.
The wanted signals are shown by the solid line while unwanted signals are shown by the
broken arrows.

The unwanted signals


include:

1. The reflection of the transmitted signals at the antenna caused by impedance


mismatch.

2. The standing-wave pattern on the cable feeding the reference signal to the
receiver, due to poor mixer match.

3. The leakage signal entering the receiver via coupling between transmitter and
receiver antennas. This can limit the ultimate receiver sensitivity, especially at high
altitudes.

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4. The interference due to power being reflected back to the transmitter, causing a
change in the impedance seen by the transmitter. This is usually important only at low
altitudes. It can be reduced by an attenuator introduced in the transmission line at low
altitude or by a directional coupler or an isolator.

5. The double-
bounce signal.

Fig: unwanted signals in FM altimeter

OBJECTIVE TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Which of the following statement is incorrect? The Doppler Effect is used in [ ]

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a. MTI system b. CW radar c. FM Radar d. moving target plotting on the


PPI

2. A transponder comprises of [ ]

a. transmitter only b. receiver only

c. transmitter and receiver d. transmitter and receiver and


antenna

3. If A be the capture area of receiving antenna of radar then the maximum range will be

Proportional to [ ]

a. A b. A 2 c. 1 / sqrt A d. sqrt A

4. For high power radars the peak power is limited by [

] a. breakdown of RF components b. increased complexity of

transmitter circuitry c. cost aspects d. max. band width

5. The maximum range of radar depends on [ ]

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a. pulse frequency b. pulse duration c. pulse energy d. pulse


interrals

6. The term rat race in radar is associated with [ ]

a. duplexer. b. receiver bandwidth c. modulator d. hybrid


ring

7. Most of the aircraft surveillance radars operate in [ ]

a. L band b. c band c. s band d. x band.

8. The minimum range of detection by a pulse radar depends on [ ]

a. pulse width b. Average transmitter


power c. beam width of the antenna d. bandwidth
of antenna

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9. An MTI system eliminates permanent echoes while preserving echoes from a


moving target by
[ ]

a. decreasing pulse width b. utilizing the Doppler

effect c. increasing peak transmitted power d. wide beam

width

10. A CW radar cannot give information about [


]

a. a range b. direction c. both range and

direction d. range, direction and past track

11. A target is moving with a velocity of 360km/hour radially towards the transmitting
frequency generator of 3 GHz will be [
]

a. 300 KHz b. 1 KHz c. 1.5 KHz d. 2 KHz

12. A duplex is a device which [

] a. switches an antenna between transmitter and receiver by means of

selective filters b. switches an antenna between transmitter and receiver

by means of gas

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Switching tubes.

c. neither of the above two d. connect at a time to transmitter or


receiver only

13. The minimum receivable signal in a radar receiver who’s IF bandwidth is 1.5
MHz and

which has a noise figure 9 dB will be [


]

a. 4.16 X 10 -10 Watt b. 4.16 X 10 -12


Watt c. 4.16 X 10-13 Watt d. 4.16 X
10 -14- Watt

14. When p is the peak transmitted pulse power. The maximum range of the
radar is proportional to
[ ]

a. P b. P1/2 c. P ¼ d. 1/ P 1/4

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15. A RADAR SYSTEM OPERATES at 3 cm with a peak pulse power of 500KW. Its
minimum receivable power is 10 -3 W, The capture area of th antenna is 5 m2 and the
radar crosssectional area of the target is 20m 2 . the maximum range of the radar will be
[ ]

a. 343 Km b. 44km c. 686 km d. 888 km

16. Which of the following is not a display method [ ]

a. PPI b. Computer feeding

c. Mono pulse conical scanning d. A scope

17. Which of the following is used for IFF [ ]

a. CW radar b. MTI c. Ordinary radar` d. Beacon

18. Which of the following statement about radar is valid [ ]

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a. echoes from the target are random and noise impulses

are repetitive b. echoes and noise impulse both are

random

c. echoes and noise pulses both are repetitive

d. echoes from target are repetitive and noise impulses are random

19. A radar consists of [ ]

a. display unit b. switching modulator c. varactor diode d. gunn diode

20. In radar as soon as the transmitted pulse terminates, the transmitter is

disconnected from the antenna by

[ ]

a. Duplexer b. Mixer c. ART switches d. Detector

Answers:

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1.d 2.d 3.d 4.c 5.c 6.a 7.a 8.a 9.a 10.a

11.d 12.b 13.d 14.c 15.c 16.c 17.d 18.d 19.a 20.a

ESSAY TYPE QUESTIONS

1. With the help of suitable block diagram, explain the operation of a FM-CW
altimeter.
2. Discuss all the possible errors in the measurement accuracy of altitudes using a
FM-CW

a. radar.
3. List out the possible errors for measurement of altitudes accurately using a
FM-CW altimeter.

4. Discuss the results of multiple frequency usage for operating FM-CW


radar while mentioning the limitations of multiple frequency usage in CW radars.
5. Range and Doppler measurement of a target using a FM-CW radar.

6. Unwanted signals and the measurement errors in FM altimeter.

7. With necessary mathematical expressions, describe range and Doppler


measurement if the transmitted signal of a CW radar is frequency modulated.
8. Describe the e ect of sinusoidal modulating signal in the place of rectangular
pulses on the performance of a radar.
9. Draw the block diagram of IF Doppler bank and explain the operation of it with
the help of frequency response of it.
10. What are the e ects which limit the amount of transmitter leakage power which
can be tolerated at the receiver?
11. Why is amplitude comparison mono pulse more likely to be preferred over
the phase comparison mono pulse and conical scan tracker over sequential
lobbing, or lobe switching, tracker? Explain.

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12. Discuss in detail about the Amplitude fluctuations and how its effects are
minimized

13. Explain Mono pulse tracking in two angle coordinates.

14. Draw the block diagram of sinusoidally modulated FMCW radar and explain the
function of each block.
15. What are the various unwanted signals which cause errors in FM altimeter?

16. Explain the two frequency CW technique for measuring the Radar range?

17. Explain the operation of the two frequency CW Radar.

18. How to select the difference between two transmitted signals of CW radar?

19. Why the step error and quantization errors which occur in cycle counter are
used for frequency measurement in FMCW Radar?
20. Draw the block diagram of sinu soidally modulated FMCW radar and
explain the function of each block.

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UNIT-V

MTI AND PULSE

DOPPLER RADAR

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MTI Radar means moving target indication radar. This is one form of pulsed radar. MTI
radar is characterized by its very low PRF and nence no range ambiguity in MTI Rdar. The
unambigues range is given by Runamb = vo/fp

Where vo = velocity of electromagnetic wave in free space

fp = pulse repetition frequency in Hz

Moving target indication is the process of rejecting fixed or slowly moving clutter while
passing echoes from targets moving at significant velocities.

Moving Target Indication (MTI) radar: A delay line canceller filter to isolate moving
targets from nonmoving background

i. Ambiguous velocity ii. Unambiguous range

Pulsed Doppler radar: Doppler data are extracted by the use of range gates and Doppler
filters. i. Unambiguous velocity ii. Unambiguous or ambiguous range

Types of MTI Radar:

1. Area MTI Radar

2. Coherent MTI Radar

3. Non-coherent MTI Radar

4. Airborne Moving Target Indicator (AMTI) Rdar

5. Digital MTI (DMTI) Radar.

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INTRODUCTION:

The Doppler shift produced by a moving target may be used in pulse radar: (1) To
determine the relative velocity of the target or (2) To separate desired moving targets from
undesired stationary clutter.

The second application has been of greater importance.

The MTI radar usually operates with ambiguous Doppler measurements (blind speeds)

but with unambiguous range (no second time around echoes).

The pulse Doppler radar has a high enough PRF to operate with unambiguous Doppler,
but at the expense of range ambiguities.

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MTI is a necessity in high quality air surveillance radars that operate in the presence
of clutter. MTI adds cost and complexity and digital signal processing.

Practical, economical MTI has been available only since the mid 1970s.

Operation: Simple CW radar is shown. In principle the CW radar can be converted into pulse
radar by providing a power amplifier and a modulator to turn the amplifier on and off.

Note: The main difference between this pulse radar and the one described previouslyis that
some portion of the CW power that generates the transmitted pulse is applied to the
receiver as the local oscillator.

This LO provides the coherent reference needed for Doppler frequency


detection. Coherent means that the phase of the transmitted signal is preserved in the
reference signal.

Let the CW oscillator voltage be

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Therefore the reference voltage is ………….(1)

The Doppler shifted echo voltage is ………….(2)

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Here c = velocity of propagation and R0 = range of target

The reference and echo signal are mixed in the receiver and the difference
extracted

………..(3)

Note: equations 2 and 3 represent carriers upon which the pulse modulation is imposed

Note: For stationary targets, fd = 0 therefore Vdiff will have a constant value some where between

-A4 and A4 including zero.

Examples of Vdiff are shown in figure 4.2

When fd > 1/τ the doppler can be discerned from the information in a single pulse (4.2 b)

When fd < 1/τ the pulses will be modulated an amplitude given by equation 3 (Fig 4.2.c)

In this second case, many pulses will be needed to extract the Doppler
information.

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The situation shown in Fig. 4.2 c is typical of aircraft detection radar. The situation shown in Fig.

4.2 b is typical of detection of missiles or satellites (i.e. high velocity). Doppler ambiguities can
occur in Fig. 4.2 c but not in 4.2 b.

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Moving targets can be distinguished from stationary targets by observing the video on an

A scope (amplitude vs range). A single sweep might appear as in Fig. 4.3 a.

This also shows several fixed targets and 2 moving targets indicated by the two arrows.
From the single sweep it is impossible to distinguish moving targets from fixed targets.
Successive A scope sweeps (PRIs) are shown. Echoes from fixed targets are constant while
echoes from moving targets vary in amplitude at a rate corresponding to the Doppler shift.
Superposition of the sweeps shows the moving targets producing a butterfly effect.

Note: the video is bipolar. Fixed targets can give either a positive or a negative pulse

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(corresponding to the previous comment on the value ranging from -A4 and A4.

The butterfly effect is not suitable for display on PPI. To extract Doppler information in a
form suitable for a PPI, one can use a delay line canceller.

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The delay line canceller acts as a filter to eliminate DC. Fixed targets with unchanging
amplitudes pulse to pulse are cancelled. The amplitudes of the moving targets are not constant
pulse to pulse and subtraction results in an uncancelled residue. The rectifier provides the video
for the PPI.

A Diagram of an MTI employing an HPA (high power amplifier) is shown below. This
arrangement is called a MOPA (master oscillator, power amplifier). Here the coherent
reference is supplied by a coho (coherent oscillator). The coho is a stable oscillator whose
frequency is the same as the IF frequency in the receiver. The coho fc also mixes with the stalo
(stable oscillator) fl. The RF echo is heterodyned with fl to produce the IF.

After amplification at IF the received signal is phase detected with fc. (Note: the
heterodyne process is used to avoid 1/f noise) to give video proportional to the phase
difference between the two signals. The electronics excluding the high power amplifier are
collectively called the exciter-receiver.

Note: although the phase of the STALO influences the phase of the transmitted signal, any

STALO phase is cancelled on reception.

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Again, the main feature of MTI is that the transmitted signal must be coherent (phase
referenced) with the downconverting oscillators in the receiver. The HPA maybe a Klystron, a
TWT (travelling wave tube), crossed field amplifier, triode, tetrode. Each has its advantages and
disadvantages.

Before the development of the Klystron amplifier, the only high power transmitter
was the magnetron oscillator. Here, the phase of the oscillator bears no relationship from pulse
to pulse. Hence the reference cannot be generated by a continuously operating oscillator.
However a coherent reference can be obtained by readjusting the phase of the coho at the
beginning of

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each sweep according to the phase of the transmitted power (sweep is the term for the
period between pulses).

Here a portion of the transmitted signal is mixed with the STALO to produce a phase
which is directly related to the phase of the transmitter. This IF pulse is applied to the coho and
causes the coho to lock in step with the phase of the IF reference pulse.

The phase of the coho is then related to the phase of the transmitted pulse and can be
used as the reference for echoes from that particular transmitted pulse. Upon the next
transmitted pulse, another IF locking pulse relocks the phase of the CW coho.

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Advantages of MOPA (Master Oscillator Power Amplifier):

1. It can be easier to reach the desired performance i.e., in terms of line width,
wavelength tuning range, beam quality or pulse duration. This is because various
performance aspects are decoupled from the generation of high powers which gives the
extra flexibility.

2. Low power seed laser can be modulated i.e., an optical modulator can be used
between seed laser and power amplifier.

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3. The combination of an existing laser with an existing amplifier may be simpler than
developing a new laser with high output power.

4. Optical intensities are lower compared to intracavity intensities in an amplifier.

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DISADVANTAGES OF MOPA:

1. The complexity of the setup is higher.

2. The wall-plug efficiency is often lower.

3. The resulting laser noise tends to be higher.

4. A MOPA can be sensitive to back reflections which are amplified again before entering
the master laser.

APPLICATIONS OF MOPA:

1. In pulsed laser sources it can be used as a reservoir of energy.

2. This can be used in the deformation of the temporal pulse shape.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEM PULSE DOPLER RADAR AND MTI RADAR:

1. Pulse doppler radar, in this the radar send the pulse train to detect the position of
target and MTI (moving target indicator) in which it detect the target which is moving
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but pulse radar can detect the moving target but there is a disadvantage that the
problem of blind speed arises and pulse radar dosn't continuosly transmit the pulse
after transmitting wait for receiving in ths time it doesn't transmit any pulse.

2. Pulse doppler radar and MTI radar both are used to find the target range by using
doppler effect( doppler shift) .but MTI radar uses low PRF whereas pulse doppler uses
high PRF.

3. The different between MTI radar and PD radar is a unique even though they all relay
on Doppler principle , but the MTI radar determine moving targets by detecting the
phase and amplitude of the received wave and compare it with saved replica of the
original transmitted wave but at opposite phase , so if the target are not moving then
the phase and amplitude of the 2 signals will match but at different value will result of
canceling each other, but if the 2 signals are not matched they will give positive or
negative value and that is indication of moving target.

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4. Pulse Doppler radar has anther interest, it is interested in the changes happen to
the transmitted wave (DOPPLER SHIFT) either it will be compressed if the target moving
toward the radar

Example: received frequency may change from transmitted 6000MHz to 6010MHZ), or


may stretch if the target are going away from the radar ( the 6000MHz will be 5990MHz

5. The PD radar are not interested in the transmitted frequency any more after it has
been transmitted but it does set filters around it at the expected reflected frequency
Example:5970,5980,5990,6010,6020,6030. If there are moving targets then the
filters will receive power and that is an indication of presence of target.

Delay Line Cancellers:

The time domain delay-line canceller capability depends on the qualityof the
medium used as the delayline. The delay required is equal to the PRI and might be several
milliseconds (long!!!). This can not be achieved with electromagnetic transmission lines.

Converting the electromagnetic signal to an acoustic signal allows the design of


delaylines with reasonable physical length since the velocity of acoustic waves is approximately

10-5 that of electromagnetic


waves.

The signal at the output of the acoustic delay device is then converted back to
an electromagnetic wave. Solid fused quartz using multiple internal reflections to obtain a
compact device was developed in the 1950’s. These analog delay lines have been replaced by
digital delay lines using A/D and digital processing.

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The use of digital processing allows implementation of complex delay line cancellers
which were not practical with the analog methods.

Note: An advantage of the time domain delay line canceler as compared with the frequency
domain filter is that a single network operates at all ranges and does not need a separate filter
for each range resolution cell.

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Filter Characteristics of a Delay Line Canceler:

The canceler acts as a filter to reject DC clutter but because of its periodic nature it
also rejects energy near the PRF and its harmonics. The video received from a target at range R0
is

The signal from the previous transmission which is delayed by a time T = PRI is

The output from the pulse canceler is

The frequency response of the single delay-line canceller is H(f) = 2k sin(πfdT).

The response of the single delay line canceller will be zero when the argument πfdT is 0, π, 2π…

etc.

Definitions:

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1. Blind speed is defined as the radial velocity of the target at which the MTI response is
zero.

2. It is also defined as the radial velocity of the target which results in a phase difference of

exactly 2π radians between successive pulses.

3. Blind speed is defined as the radial velocity of the target at which no shift
appears making the target appearing stationary and echows from the targets are
cancelled.

The speeds at which these occur are called the blind speed of the radar. These are

For λ in metres, fp in Hz and vn in knots we have the following: vn = nλfp/(1.02) ≈ nλfp

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The first blind speeds in knots is given by vb1 = 0.97λfp = λfp

If the first blind speed is to be greater than the expected maximum radial speed, then λf p
must be large. Hence the MTI must operate at a long wavelength or high PRF or both. However
there are other constraints on λ and fp and blind speeds are not easily avoided.

There are four methods to reduce the effect of blind speeds by operating the radar at:

a. Long wavelength
b. High PRF

c. More than one PRF and

d. More than one wavelength.

The blind speed is dependent on the transmitted frequency and on the pulse repetition
frequency of the radar unit.

Example given:

A radar unit works with the tx-frequency of 2.8 GHz and a puls repetition time of 1.5 ms. Under
these conditions the first blind speed has got the value:
λ c0 3·108

vblind = = =
= 35,72 m/s c0 = speed of
2·Ts 2·f·Ts 2·2,8·109·1,5·10-3 light

This speed of converted about 130 km/h and all integral multiples of this also well cause that
the target isn't visible in the range of the effectiveness of the MTI system.

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Large λ has the disadvantage that antenna beamwidth is wider and is not
satisfactory

where angular accuracy is important.

High fp reduces the unambiguous

range.

Figure 4.8 shows the first blind speed v1 as a function of maximum unambiguous range

(Runambig = cT/2)

In practice MTI radars in L and S band are designed for the detection of aircraft and
must operate with blind speeds if they are to operate with unambiguous range. Systems which
require good MTI performance must operate with ambiguous range (pulse Doppler radar).

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The effect of blind speeds can be reduced by operating with more than one PRF
(staggered PRF MTI). Operating at more than one RF frequency can also reduce effect of blind
speeds.

Double Cancellation:

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Single delay line cancelers do not always have as broad a clutter reject null at DC as
might be desired. The null can be widened by the use of cancelers as shown In Fig 4.9a, the
output of the two single delay line cancellers in cascade is the square of that from a single delay

canceler.

The response of this double delay line canceler is shown in Fig. 4.10.The finite width of the
typical clutter spectrum is also shown to illustrate the additional cancellation offered.

The two delayline canceler of Fig. 4.9b has the same frequencyresponse characteristic
as the double delay line canceler.

Here the output of the adder is Where f(t) is the received video
signal

This arrangement is called a three pulse canceler.

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Transversal Filters:

The 3 pulse filter of Fig. 4.9b is a transversal filter. The general form is shown below for
N pulses and N-1 delays. It is also called a feed-forward filter, a nonrecursive filter, a finite
memory filter and a tapped delay line filter. The weights for a transversal filter with n delay
lines that gives a sinn(πfdT) are the binomial coefficient with alternating sign

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Note: a cascade configuration of three delay lines each connected as a single canceller is called
a triple canceler: but when connected as a transversal filter it is called a four pulse canceler.

The transversal filter with alternating binomial weights is closely related to the
filter which maximizes the average of the ratio

Where S/C is the signal to clutter ratio And Ic is the improvement factor for clutter

The average is over the range of Doppler frequencies. Ic is independent of target


velocity and depends onlyon the weights wi, the autocorrelation function (power spectral
density) of the clutter, and the number of pulses.

For the two pulse canceler (single delay line), the optimum weights based on the above
criterion are the same as the binomial weights when the clutter is Gaussian.

For the three pulse canceler, the difference between filter with optimal weights and one
with binomial weights is less than 2 dB.

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The difference is small for higher order cancelers also.

For anyorder canceler, the difference between optimum weights and binomial weights is
small over a wide range of clutter spectral widths.

Similarlythe use of a criterion which maximizes the clutter attenuation (Cin/Cout) is also
well approximated by a transversal filter with binomial weights with alternating signs, when
the clutter spectrum can be represented by a Gaussian function whose spectral width is
small compared to the PRF. The transversal filter with binomial weights also approximates the
filter which maximizes the Pd for a target at midband Doppler frequency or its harmonics.

The disadvantage is due to notches at DC, the PRF and harmonics of PRF increasing in
width as the number of delay lines increases. The added delay lines reduce the clutter but also
reduce the number of moving targets because of the reduced pass band. For targets uniformly
distributed across the Doppler frequency:

We have for the criterion that -10dB response of the filter is the threshold for
detection, the following table:

Although these filters are optimum for Ic theyare not necessarilybest. They are
onlybest under a given set of assumptions. It would seem that the MTI filter should be shaped
to reject the clutter at DC and around the PRF, but have a flat response over the region where
no clutter is expected.

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The transversal filter can be designed to achieve this desirable filter response but needs
a large number of delay lines. This sets a restriction on the radar’s PRF, beamwidth, antenna
rotation rate and dwell time.

Fig 4.12 shows the amplitude response of a 3 pulse canceler with sin2 πfdT(1), a 5 pulse
“optimum” canceler which maximizes Ic (2) and a 15 pulse Chebyshev filter (3). Even a 5 pulse
Chebyshev design gives a significantly wider bandwidth than the 5 pulse optimum design.

Note: the Chebyshev design has a lower Ic but is worthwhile if the clutter spectrum is
narrow.

When there are onlya few pulses available for processing, there is little that can be done to
control the filter shape. Hence for 3 or 4 pulse cancelers it is best to use the classical sin2 or
sin4 response of the binomial cancelers.

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Shaping the Frequency Response:

Non recursive filters employ only feedforward loops. These yield zeroes for synthesizing
the frequency response. If feedback loops are used, each delay line can provide one pole as
well as one zero. The canonical form is shown below:

When feedback loops are used the filter is called recursive. Can synthesize in principle
almost any frequency response using z transform techniques. Canonical configuration is not
always desirable due to delay tolerances.

It has been shown that the canonical configuration can be broken into cascaded sections
with no section having more than two delay elements. This synthesis technique applies
to Chebyshev, Butterworth, Bessel and elliptical filter design.

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The recursive delay line filters offer steady state response that is superior to that of
nonrecursive filters. However they have poor transient response due to the feedback loops. The
presence of large clutter returns can effectively appear as a large step input which leads to
severe ringing in the filter output which can mask the target signal until the transient response
dies out. In surveillance radar, the number of pulses from anytar get is limited. Hence the MTI
filter is almost always in a transient state for most recursive filters.

A filter with steep frequency response skirts might allow 15 - 30 pulses to be


generated at the filter output due to feedback. This could make the system unusable in
situations with large discrete clutter, or with interference or jamming from other radars.
Poor transient response is also undesirable in radars with step scan phased array, since the e
xtra pulses might have to be gated out after the beam has been moved.

For step scan radars the undesirable transient effects can be overcome by using the
initial return from each new beam position to apply initial conditions to the MTI filter. These
initial conditions are the steady state values that would appear in the filter after an infinitely
long sequence. This effectively suppresses the transient response. An alternative to the
recursive filter is to use multiple PRFs.

Multiple (Staggered) PRFs:

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Multiple PRFs reduce the effect of blind speeds and also allow a sharper low frequency
cutoff. The blind speeds of two independent radars will be different if their PRFs are different.
This same result can be achieved with one radar which shares its PRFs between 2 or
more values.

PRF can be switched every other scan, every time the antenna is scanned half a beam
width or pulse to pulse (staggered PRF). Fig. 4.16 shows the composite response of MTI with
two separate PRFs with a ratio of 5:4

Note: The first blind speed of the composite is greatly increased (i.e. at f d = 4/T1 = 5/T2). But
regions of low sensitivity appear.

The closer the ratio T1: T2 approaches unity, the greater the frequency y of the first blind
speed, and the deeper he first null in the vicinity of fd - 1/T1. The null depth can be reduced and
the first blind speed increased by operating with more than 2 PRFs.

Fig 4.17 shows a five pulse stagger (4 periods) response with periods in the ratio
25:30:27:31

Here the first blind speed is 28.25 times that of a constant PRF with the same average

period. If the periods of the staggered pulses have the relationships

Where n1, n2,.....nN are integers

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And if vB is the first blind speed of a non staggered pulse with period equal to the average
period

Then the first blind speed v1 is

Weighting can also be applied to received pulses of a staggered PRF. Fig. 4.18 dashed
curve shows the response of a 5 pulse canceller with fixed PRF and using weights of 7/8;1;-3
3/4;

1 7/8. The solid curve is for a staggered PRF with the same weights but with 4 interpulse
periods of -15%, -5%, 5%, 15%.

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Note that the response at the first blind speed is down only 6.6dB. The disadvantage of
staggered PRF is its inability to cancel second time around clutter echoes. Such clutter does not
appear at the same range from pulse to pulse and produces uncancelled residue.

Second time around clutter can be removed by the use of constant PRF providing there
is pulse to pulse coherence (i.e. power amplifier form of MTI). Constant PRF might be employed
only over angular sectors where second time around clutter is expected, or by changing the PRF
each time the antenna scans half a beam width, or by changing the PRF each scan period.

Range Gated Doppler Filters:

It is possible to use frequency domain band pass filters in MTI radar to sort the Doppler
frequency shifted targets. A narrow band filter with a pass band designed to pass the Doppler
components of a moving target will ring when excited by a short radar pulse.

The narrow band filters means the input pulse since the impulse response is the
reciprocal of the filter bandwidth. This smearing destroys the range resolution.

If there is more than one target in the smeared region they can not be resolved. Even
for one target, noise from other range cells will interfere (collapsing loss) resulting in reduction
in sensitivity. The loss of range information and collapsing loss can be eliminated by quantizing
the range into small intervals (range gating). The width of the range gate is usually of the
order of the pulse width. The range resolution is established by range gating. Once the return is
quantized, the output from each gate is applied to a narrow band filter since the pulse shape

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need no linger be preserved for range resolution. Collapsing loss does not take place since
noise from other range intervals is excluded.

The output of the phase detector is sampled sequentially by range gates. The range
gate acts as a switch which opens and closes at the proper time. Gates are activated once
each PRI. The output from a stationary target is s series of pulses of constant amplitude. An
echo from a moving target produces pulses which vary in amplitude according to the Doppler
frequency.

The output from the range gates is stretched in boxcar generators (or sample and hold
circuits). This helps the filtering and detection process by emphasizing the fundamental of
the

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modulation frequency and eliminating harmonics of the PRF. Clutter rejection filter is a
band pass filter whose bandwidth depends on the clutter spectrum.

The full wave rectifier then converts the bipolar video to unipolar form. An
integrator acts as a low pass filter. The signal is then applied to the threshold detector circuit.

Following threshold detection the outputs from each range channel must be properly
combined for display on the PPI etc.

The band pass filter can be designed with a variable low frequency cutoff that can be
varied to conform to prevailing clutter conditions (i.e. adaptive).

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For example, a wide notch at DC is needed to remove echoes from birds but mayalso
remove some desired targets. Since the appearance of birds varies with time of day and
season the adaptive notch width might be important.

MTI using range gates is more complex than MTI with single delay line canceler. MTI
using range gates improves performance and allows flexibility of range gates and filter
bandwidth.

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Difference between MTI Radar and CW Radar:

CW Radar MTI Radar


1. Using this radar, we can not measure range 1. Using this radar, we can measure range of a

of aThis
2. target. target.
radar can not have blind speeds and 2. This radar has blind speeds and phases.

phases.
3. It is difficult to avoid transmitter to receiver 3. It is easy to avoid transmitter to receiver

feed-through.
4. This radar has little inability to distinguish feed-through.
4. This radar not only distinguishes the

between approaching and receiding target. approaching and receiding target but also
track them.

Differences between blind speeds and blind phases:

Blind speeds Blind phases


1.The relative velocities of the target at which 1. The blind phases are due to the presence
of

MTI response is zero are called as blind speeds


sampling pulses at the same point in the
and are given by

Doppler cycle at each sampling instant.


2. Due to the presence of blind speeds within a 2. When the Doppler frequency is half of the

Doppler frequency band, the capability of PRF, blind phases with single has serious
radar
3. By may be reduced.
operating problem,
with more than one PRF or 3. duequadrature,
By using to which complete
we can signal is lost.
eliminate the

operating at more than one RF frequency blind phases.


we can reduce blind speeds.
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4. Effect is more in MTI Radars. 4. Effect is more in MTI Radars.

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Advantages of Time domain Delay-line Canceller over Conventional

Frequency Domain Filter:

1. The delay-line canceller has been widely used in MTI Radar, in order to separating moving
targets from stationary clutter ehile the filter configuration in conventional frequency
domain filter is more complex.

2. The delay-line canceller rejects the DC component of clutter.

3. In time domain delay-line canceller, a single network operates at all frequency ranges,
it does not require a separate fiter for each frequency range.

4. The gain through the delay-line canceller is unity.

5. Delay-line cancellers are used in digital signal processing through which great stability is
achieved.

6. The delay-line canceller serves as an important tool for a MTI designer.

7. The time domain delay-line canceller provides a time delay equal to the pulse
repetition period.

8. The digital processing technology using the delay line cancellers made an introduction
of digital devices for computing the Fourier transform.

Digital Signal Processing:

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Allows multiple delay line cancelers with tailored frequency response to be achieved. Is
more dependable, requires less adjustment than analog cancelers, does not vary with
temperature etc. Most advantages of digital MTI result from the use of digital storage in the
place of analog delay lines. Here the IF signals is split into I and Q channels. The outputs of the
two phase detectors are 90˚ out of phase.

The quadrature channel eliminates the effects of blind phases. Note that this is seldom
done in analog delay line cancelers due to the complexity involved with additional analog delay
lines. The baseband bipolar video is sampled at a rate to obtain one or more samples per range
resolution cell. The A/D output is stored in the memory for one PRI and then subtracted from
the words from the next sweep. The I and Q outputs are combined as either

The combined output is then converted to an analog signal with D/A for
display.

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Note: more complex filtering schemes are normally implemented.

The memory can be RAM or a shift register. A/D must operate at high speeds to
preserve the information content, and also have sufficient number of bits to quantize the signal
to preserve precision. The number of bits determines the maximum improvement factor for the
MTI radar. The A/D converter must cover the peak excursion of the phase detector output. To
ensure this, a limiter may be necessary. The quantization noise introduced by the A/D imposes
a limit to the improvement factor of

Where 2N - 1 is the number of discrete intervals. This is approximately 6dB / bit

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Example: A 9 bit A/D has 511 levels. Thus the maximum resolution is 1 out of 511

= 54 dB

Note: IQN = 52.9 which is close

Blind phase - this is different from blind speed. Blind speed occurs when pulse sampling occurs
at the same point on the Doppler cycle at each sampling instant (Fig 4.22a).

Fig. 4.22b shows the I channel with the pulse train such that the signals are of the same
amplitude and with spacing such that when pulse a1 is subtracted from pulse a2 the result is
zero. However a residue is produced when a2 is subtracted from a3, but not when a3 is
subtracted from a4.

Note: The pulse pairs that were lost in the I channel are recovered in the Q channel and
vice versa.

The combination of I and Q channels results in a uniform signal with no loss. An extreme
case, resulting in the complete loss of signal, occurs, with only one channel when the Doppler
frequency is half of the PRF and the phase between the two is such that the echo pulses lie on
the zeroes of the Doppler signal. However if the Q channel is added the all of the echo pulses
occur at the peaks of the Doppler signal. Other phase relationships also give loss with single
channel MTI.

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Advantages of digital processing over analog delay lines:

1) Greater stability

2) Greater repeatability

3) Greater precision

4) Greater reliability

5) No special temperature control required

6) Greater dynamic range (i.e. no spurious response)

7) Avoids restriction that PRI and delay time must be equal

8) Different PRI can be used (without switching delay lines of various lengths in and out)

9) Greater freedom in selection of amplitude weighting for shaping filters

10) Allows easy implementation of I and Q channels (eliminates blind phases)

Digital Filter Banks and the FFT:

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A transversal filter with N outputs (N-1 delays) can be made to form a bank of N
contiguous filters covering the spectrum of 0 to PRF. Consider the transversal filter of Fig. 4.11
to have N-1 delays each with a delay of T = 1/fp. Let the weights at the outputs be

Where i = 1,2,... N represents the ith tap And k = an index from 1 to N-1

Each k value corresponds to a different set of N weights and to a different


doppler

frequency response. The N filters generated by the index k constitute the filter bank. The
impulse response of the transversal filter with the above weights is:

The Fourier transform yields the frequency response

The magnitude of the frequency response yields the amplitude characteristic

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Note that the peak response occurs when the denominator is zero i.e.

π(fT-k/N)= 0,π,2π ....

for k=0, the peak response occurs at f= 0,1/T,2/T etc.

This is a filter centred at DC, the PRF and harmonics of the PRF. This filter has no clutter
rejection capability, b ut it is useful fro pro viding a map of clutter.

The first null occurs when the numerator is 0

For k=0 this is f= 1/NT

The bandwidth between nulls is then 2/NT and the half power bandwidth is: BW(3dB) ≈ 0.9/NT

When k=1, the peak response occurs at f = 1/NT, 1/T + 1/NT....

Hence each k defines a separate filter response, each with a bandwidth between nulls of 2/NT.

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Since each filter occupies the 1/N bandwidth of a delayline canceler, its SNR will be
greater than the delay line canceler. Also the dividing of the band by N filters allows a
measure of the Doppler frequency to be made. If moving clutter (birds, weather) appears, the
threshold of each filter maybe adjusted individuallyto adapt to the clutter in it. This selectivity
allows clutter to be removed which would be passed by a delay line canceler. The first
sidelobe level is at -

13dBc for the filters with the above weights. This can be reduced at the expense of wider
bandwidth by adjusting the weights (windowing).

Two forms of windows are the Hamming and the Hanning.

It is not always convenient to display outputs of all of the Doppler filters. One
approach is to connect filter outputs to a “greatest of” circuit, so that only one output is
obtained (Note: the filter at DC would be excluded).

The improvement factor for each of the 8 filters of a 8 filter bank is shown in Fig. 4.24 as
a function of the standard deviation of the clutter spectrum, for a spectrum represented as a
Gaussian function. For comparison, the improvement factor for an N pulse canceler is shown in
Fig. 4.25

Note: the improvement factor for a two pulse canceler is almost as good as that of the 8 pulse
Doppler filter bank. However, maximizing the improvement factor is not the onlycriterion for
judging the effectiveness of MTI Doppler processes. If a 2 or 3 pulse canceler is cascaded with a
Doppler filter bank, better clutter rejection is obtained.

Fig. 4.26 gives Ic for a 3 pulse canceler cascaded with an 8 pulse filter bank. The upper
figure assumes uniform amplitude weights (-13.2 dB sidelobes) and the lower figure gives the

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results for Chebyshev weights (-25 dB sidelobes). It is found that doubling the number of
pulses

in the filter bank to 16 does not offer significant improvement (i.e. increased pulses ⇒

increase

in bandwidth as well as decreased sidelobes. If the sidelobes of the individual filters in the
filter

bank can be made low, the inclusion of the delay line canceler ahead of it might not
be necessary.

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Other MTI Delay Lines:

Solid crystal has been mentioned previously.

Electrostatic storage tube

 Here the signals are stored on a mesh similar to that of a TV camera. The first
sweep reads the signal on the storage tube. the next sweep written on the same space
and generates the difference between the two. Two tubes are required; one to write
and store the new sweep, the other to subtract the new sweep from the old. The
electrostatic storage tube can be used with different PRFs.

The charge transfer device (CTD) is a sampled data, analog shift register which can be used
as a delayline, transversal filter and recursive filter.

There are two types of CTD:

 The bucket brigade device (BBD) with capacitive storage elements separated byswitches.

Here the data is transferred through the BBD at a rate determined bythe rate at which
the Switches are operated. The delay time is determined by the number of stages
and the switching (or clock) speed.

 Charge coupled devices (CCDs) are similar except that charge packets are transferred to
adjacent potential wells by a clocked potential gradient

Notes: The sampling frequency must give one or two samples per resolution cell. No A/D or

D/A required as for digital systems.

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MTI cancelling can be done at IF. Here no blind phases occur. Finally the video can FM
modulate a carrier f or acoustic delay. This avoids problems of amplitude stability of acoustic
delay lines.

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Example of an MTI Radar Processor:

The moving target detector (MTD) was developed byLincoln Labs for the FAA’s airport
surveillance radars (ASR). The ASR is medium range (60 NM) radar located at most US
airports. It has 2.7 to 2.9 GHz RF, 1μs pulse width, 1.4 ˚ azimuth beamwidth, antenna
rotation rate of 12.5 to 15 RPM PRF from 700 to 1200 Hz and average power from 400 to 600
W.

The MTD processor is based on digital technology. Uses a 3 pulse canceler followed by
an 8 pulse FFT Doppler filter bank with weighting to reduce sidelobes. The total system has
alternating PRFs to eliminate blind speeds, adaptive thresholds and a clutter map used
for detecting targets with zero radial speed.

The measured Ic of the MTD on the ASR was 45 dB (20 dB better than with a
conventional 3 pulse MTI processor). The MTD also achieves a narrower notch at zero velocity
blind speeds. The processor is preceded by a large dynamic range receiver to avoid reduction
in Ic caused by limiting.

The IF is applied to I & Q detectors and the video is A/Dd with 10 bit resolution. The
range totalling 47.5 NM is divided into 1/16 NM intervals and the azimuth into 0.75 ˚ intervals.
In each 0.75˚ interval (≈ 1/2 beamwidth) 10 pulses are transmitted at constant PRF.

On receive the 10 pulses are processed by the delay line canceller and Doppler filter
bank which forms 8 Doppler filters. Hence the radar output is divided into 2,920,000
range/azimuth/doppler cells. Each cell has its own adaptive threshold. In the alternate 0.75˚
azimuth intervals another 10 pulses are transmitted at a different PRF. Changing PRF every 10
pulses eliminates second time around clutter. The MTD processor is shown in Fig. 4.27. The 3

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pulse canceler ahead of the filter bank eliminates stationary clutter ahead of the filter bank and
reduces the dynamic range required of the Doppler filter bank.

Since the first two pulses of a three pulse canceler are useless, only the last 8 of the 10
pulses are passed to the filter bank (implemented using the FFT).

Following the filter bank, weighting is applied in the frequencydomain to reduce the
filter sidelobes. This is necessary since the frequency spectrum of rain and wind blown clutter
requires sidelobes lower than the -13.2 dB available from uniformly weighted samples.

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The magnitude operation forms

Separate thresholds are applied to each filter. For non zero velocityresolution cells the
thresholds are established byscanning the detected outputs of the same velocityfilter in 16
range cells, eight on either side of the cell of interest. Hence each filter output is averaged
over one mile in range to get the mean level of non zero velocityclutter.

The filter thresholds are determined by multiplying the mean levels by a constant to
achieve the desired Pfa. This adaptive threshold on each doppler filter at each range cell
provides a constant false alarm rate (CFAR) and results in subclutter visibility (for different
radial velocities of aircraft and weather). A digital clutter map establishes the thresholds for
zero velocity cells. The map is implemented with one word for each of the 365000
range/azimuth cells. The purpose of the zero velocity filters is to recover the clutter signal and
use it to establish a threshold for targets with zero radial velocity.

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In each cell of the ground clutter map is stored the average value of the output of the
zero velocityfilter for the past 8 scans (32 seconds) On each scan 1/8 of the output is added to
7/8 of the value stored in the map. The map is built up recursively requiring 10 to 20 scans to
establish steady state clutter values.

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The values in the map are multiplied by a constant to establish a threshold for zero
velocity targets. This allows elimination of usual MTI blind speed at zero relative velocity for
targets with large cross section. The MTD filters are shown in Fig. 4.28.

Here the filters 3 through 7 establish the threshold from the mean signal in 16 range
cells. Filter 1 establishes the threshold from the clutter map. Filters 2 and 8 adjacent to
the zero velocity filter establish the threshold from the larger of the mean signal over 16
range cells and the clutter map.

Fig 4.28 also shows the advantage of using 2 PRFs to detect targets in rain. As shown, the

PRFs are 20% different. Typical rain storm spectrum is shown o the bottom and has about 25 to

30 knots width centred any where from - 60 to +60 knots.

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An aircraft return is also shown at the right of the figure and is shown as occupying filters

6 and 7 on PRF-1 and filters 7 and 8 on PRF-2 (the difference is due to frequency foldover).
With PRF-2 the aircraft velocity is competing with the rain clutter, but at PRF-1 it is clear of

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clutter. Hence by using 2 PRFs alternating every 10 pulses, aircraft targets will appear in at
least one filter free of rain (except when the aircraft’s radial velocity is that of the rain).

Interference from other radars may appear as one large return among the ten returns
processed. The MTD has an interference eliminator which compares the magnitude of each
of the ten pulses against the average magnitude of the ten pulses. If anypulse is greater than 5
times the average, all information from that range/azimuth cell is discarded. The output of the
MTD is a hit report containing azimuth, range, amplitude, filter number and PRF.

On one scan, a large aircraft might be reported from more than one doppler filter, from
several coherent processing intervals and from adjacent range cells. Up to 20 hit reports might
be generated from a single large target.

A post processor groups together all reports which appear to originate from the
same target and interpolates to find the best azimuth, range, and amplitude and radar velocity.
Target amplitude and Doppler are used to eliminate small cross section and low speed angle
echoes before targets are delivered to the automatic tracking circuits.Tracking circuits eliminate
false hit reports which do not form logical tracks. The output of the automatic tracker is what is
displayed on the PPI.

Since the MTD processor eliminates large amounts of clutter and has a low false
detection rate, its output can be remoted via narrow bandwidth telephone.

Limitations of MTI Performance:

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Improvement in signal to clutter is affected by factors other than the Doppler spectrum.
Instabilities in the transmitter and receiver, physical motion of the clutter, finite time on
target and receiver limiting all affect Ic.

Definitions:

1) MTI Improvement Factor I: The signal to clutter ratio at the output of the MTI
system divided by the signal to clutter ratio at the input, averaged over all of the target
radial velocities of interest.

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2) Subclutter Visibility (SCV): The ratio by which the target echo may be weaker
than the coincident clutter echo power and still be detected with specified Pd and Pfa. All
target radial velocities are assumed equally likely

Note: A typical value is 30 dB

Note: Two radars with the same subclutter visibility might not have the same ability to detect
targets in clutter if the resolution cell of one is greater and accepts more clutter echo power

3) Clutter Visibility Factor Voc: The signal to clutter ratio after cancellation (or

Doppler processing) that provides the stated Pd and Pfa.

4) Clutter Attenuation CA: the ratio of the clutter power at the canceler input
to the clutter residue at the output, normalized (divided by) to the attenuation of a
single pulse passing through the unprocessed channel of the canceler

5) Cancellation Ratio: The ratio of canceler voltage amplification fro fixed target
echoes received with a fixed antenna, to the gain for a single pulse passing through the
unprocessed channel of the canceler.

Note:

Note: When the MTI is limited by noise like system instabilities, Voc should be chosen as the

SNR for range equation calculations.

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Note: when the MTI is limited by antenna scanning fluctuations, let Voc = 6dB for a single
pulse.

Note: Once again, I is the preferred measure of MTI performance but does not account for
possible poor performance at certain velocities

6) Interclutter Visibility: The ability of the MTI to detect moving targets in


clear resolution cells between patches of strong clutter. Resolution cells can be
range, azimuth or Doppler.

Note: the higher the radar resolution, the better the interclutter visibility. A medium resolution
radar with 2μs pulse width and 1.5 ˚ beamwidth has sufficient resolution to achieve a 20 dB
advantage over low resolution radars

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7) Equipment Instabilities: The apparent frequency spectrum from perfectly


stationary clutter can be broadened (and hence will degrade the MTI improvement
factor) due to the following:

 Pulse to pulse changes in amplitude

 Pulse to pulse changes in frequency

 Pulse to pulse changes in phase

 Timing jitter on transient pulse

 Variations in time delay through the delay lines

 Changes in pulse width

 Changes in coho or stalo between time of transmit and time of receive

8) Consider the effect of phase variations

Let the echo from a stationary clutter on pulse 1 and pulse 2 be

Where Δφ is the change in oscillator phase between the


two

pulses

9) On subtraction

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Hence the limitation on the improvement factor due to oscillator instability is

Note: To achieve I > 40 dB requires Δφ < 0.01 rad from pulse to pulse!. This applies to the coho

locking or the phase change introduced by the HPA.

The limits to I imposed by pulse to pulse instability are:

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Note: the digital processor does not experience degradation due to timing jitter of the transmit
pulse if the clock controlling the processor timing is started from the detected RF envelope of
the transmitted pulse.

10) Internal Fluctuation of Clutter: Absolutely stationary clutter - buildings,


water towers, mountains, bare hills

Dynamic clutter - trees, vegetation, sea, rain, chaff

Can limit the performance of MTI

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Most fluctuating clutter targets can be represented by a model consisting of


many independent scatterers located in the resolution cell.

Any motion of the scatterers relative to the radar results in a different vector sum
from pulse to pulse. Fig. 4.29 shows the power spectral density of clutter for a 1 GHz carrier.

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Experimentally measured spectra of clutter can be approximated by

Where W(f) = clutter power spectrum

g(f) = Fourier transform of the clutter waveform

f0 = radar carrier frequency and a = a parameter (given by Fig 4.29)

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This equation can be rewritten as:

Where σc is the RMS clutter frequency spread in Hz

or as

Where σv is the clutter velocity spread in m/s

Note:

The improvement factor can be written as

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Where CA = Ci/C0 - clutter attenuation averaged over all doppler frequencies

For a single delay line canceler

Where H(f) is the frequency response of the canceler

For a single delay line canceler, h(f) = 1- exp(-j2πfT)

= 2jsin(πfT) exp(-jπfT)

Therefore,

Assuming σc << 1/T yields,

If the exponential is small, we can use the first two terms of its series expansion

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Now the average gain (S0/Si)avg for the single delay line canceler is 2

Hence,

Similarly for a double canceler, whose average gain is 6,

A plot of above equation is shown in Fig 4.30 with fpλ as a parameter. Several
representative examples of clutter are indicated at particular values of σv.

Note: σv (spectral spread in velocity) is with respect to the mean velocity which for
ground clutter is zero.

Rain, sea echo and chaff have non zero mean velocity which must be accounted
for

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Note: the frequency dependence of equations 25 and 26 for the clutter spectrum can not be
extended over too great a frequencyrange since no account is taken of variation of cross
section of individual scatterers as a function of frequency.

For example the leaves and branches of trees have considerably different
reflecting

properties at Ka band where their dimensions are comparable to λ, than at UHF


frequencies.

The general form for an N pulse canceler with Nl = N-1 delay lines is

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Antenna Scanning Modulation:

A scanning antenna observes a target for time t0

Where nB is the number of hits received

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The received pulse train of finite duration t0 has a frequency spectrum which is
proportional to. Hence even if the clutter were perfectly stationary, the clutter spectrum would
have a finite width due to the finite time on target.

If the clutter spectrum is too wide due to too short an observation interval, the
improvement factor will be affected. This limitation is called scanning fluctuation or scanning
modulation.

To find the limitation on Ic we first find the clutter attenuation CA

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Here WS(f) describes the spectrum produced by the finite time


on target and H(f) is the MTI processor frequency response.

If the antenna main beam is approximated bya Gaussian shape, the spectrum will also
be

Gaussian. Hence the results previously derived for a Gaussian clutter spectrum can be applied.

Thus equations I1c and I2c apply for the antenna scanning fluctuations with the
correct

interpretation of σc (the RMS spread of the spectrum about the mean).

Here the voltage waveform for the clutter is modulated bythe antenna power pattern (equal to
the two way field strength pattern), as it is rotated

Now, Where θ and θB are in degrees

Therefore

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Where Sa(t) is the modulation of the received signal due to the


antenna pattern and is the scan rate in ˚/s.

The spectrum is found by taking the Fourier transform

Since this is a Gaussian function we must have

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Hence,

Note: This is for the voltage spectrum

For the power spectrum we have,

Hence the σs due to the antenna scanning is

Substituting this for σc , we get,

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Note: the stepped scan antenna also is limited in MTI performance by the finite time on
target. The time waveform is rectangular which gives a different improvement factor.

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Limiting in MTI
Radar:

A limiter is used just before the MTI processor to prevent the residue from large
clutter echoes from saturating the display. Ideally an MTI radar should reduce clutter to
a level comparable to noise. However, when I is not great enough, the clutter residue
will appear on the displayand prevent the detection of aircraft whose radar cross section
is larger than the clutter residue. This condition can be prevented bysetting the limit L
relative to the noise N equal to the MTI improvement factor I.

If the limit le vel is set too high, clutter residue obscures part of the display. If the
limit is set too lo w, there may be a black hole effect. The limiter provides a CFAR
(Constant False Alarm Rate). A nonlinear limiter however causes the spectrum of
strong clutter to spread into the canceler pass band and results in the generation of
additional residue which degrades the MTI performance.

Figure 4.32 plots I for 2 pulse and 3 pulse cancelers with various levels of limiting.
The abscissa applies to Gaussian clutter spectrum generated by clutter motion (σv) or by
antenna scanning modulation (nB). Here C/L is the ratio of RMS clutter power to the IF
limit level.

Note: The loss of I increases with the complexity of the canceler. Limiting in a 3 pulse
canceler will cause a 15 to 25 dB reduction in performance. A 4 pulse canceler with
limiting is only 2 dB better than a 3 pulse canceler. Hence adding complexity is not
justified in a limiting environment

Limiting is not needed if processor I is large enough to reduce the largest clutter
to the noise level (typically requires I ≈ 60 dB). This is difficult to achieve since it requiresSpecworld.in
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the receiver to have a linear dynamic range of at least 60 dB, the A/D must have
at least 11 bits, the equipment must be stable, the processor must be designed for I =
60 dB and the number of pulses processed must be sufficient to reduce the antenna

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scanning modulation.

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Tracking with Surveillance Radar:

The track of a target can be determined with surveillance radar from the coordinates
of the target measured from scan to scan. The quality of such a track depends on the time
between observations, the location accuracy of each observation and the number of
extraneous targets present in the vicinity of the tracked target.

A surveillance radar which develops tracks on targets it has detected is called a “track
while scan” (TWS) radar. Tracks can be obtained by having an operator mark the location of a
target on the face of the PPI with a grease pencil on each scan.

A single operator however can not handle more than about 6 target tracks when the
radar has a twelve second scan rate. Also an operator’s effectiveness in detecting new targets
decreases rapidly after 1/2 hour of operation. These problems are avoided by automating
the target detection and tracking process. This is called automatic detection and tracking (ADT)

The ADT performs the following functions:

 Target detection

 Track initiation

 Track association

 Track update

 Track smoothing

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 Track termination

The automatic detection quantizes the range into intervals equal to the range
resolution. At each range interval the detector integrates n pulses (n is the expected number of
hits expected from the target due to the antenna scan rate). The integrated pulses are
compared with the threshold to determine the presence or absence of a target.

An example is the “moving window detector” which examines continuouslythe last n


samples within each quantized range and announces the presence of a target if m out of n
of these samples crosses a preset threshold. By locating the centre of the n pulses, an estimate
of the

target’s angular direction can be obtained. This is called “beam splitting”.

If there is only one target present within the radar’s coverage, then the detection on
two scans is all that is required to establish a tar get track and estimate its’ v elocity. However
there are usuallyother targets plus clutter echoes and hence three or more detections are
necessary to establish a track reliably without the generation of false tracks.

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A computer can recognize and reject false tracks, however too many false tracks can
overload a computer. Hence the radar using ADT should exclude unwanted signals from clutter
and interference. A good ADT system therefore requires a good MTI and a good CFAR receiver.

A clutter map generated by the radar is sometimes used to reduce the load on the
tracking computer by blanking the clutter areas and removing detections associated with
large point clutter sources not rejected by the MTI. Slowly moving echoes that are not of
interest can also be removed by the clutter map.

The availability of distinctive target characteristics such as altitude might prove of help
when performing track association. When a new detection is received, an attempt is made to
associate it with existing tracks. This is aided byestablishing for each track a small search region
(gate) within which a new detection is predicted based on the estimate of the target speed and
direction. It is desired to make the gate as small as possible to avoid having more than one echo
fall within it when traffic density is high, or when two tracks are close. However a large gate is
required if the tracker is to follow target maneuvres. Hence more than one gate size may be
used.

The size of the gate depends on the accuracy of the track. When a target does not
appear in the small gate, a larger gate could be used. The size of the second gate would depend
on the maximum acceleration expected of the target. On the basis of past detections, the
track while scan radar must make smoothed estimates of the target position and velocity as
well as the predicted position and velocity.

One method of computing this information is the α−β tracker (also called the g-h
tracker). Here the present smoothed target position and velocivty are computed using

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Where xpn = the predicted position of the target at the nth


scan xn = the measured position at the nth scan

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α = the position smoothing

parameter β = the velocity

smoothing parameter Ts = the time

between observations

The predicted position at the n+1 scan is

When acceleration is important, a third equation can be added to describe an


α−β−γ tracker where γ is the acceleration smoothing parameter.

If α = β = 0 then the tracker uses no current data, only smoothed data.

If α = β = 1 then no smoothing is included at all

The α−β filter is designed to minimize the mean square error in the smoothed (filtered)
position and velocity assuming small velocity changes between observations. To minimize the
output noise variance at steady state and the transient response to a maneuvering target
modeled by a ramp function the α−β coefficients are related by

The choice of α between 0 and 1 depends on the system application and in particular
on

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the tracking bandwidth.

A compromise must be made between good smoothing (narrow bandwidth) and rapid
response to maneuver (wide bandwidth).

A criterion for selecting the α,β coefficients is based on the best linear track fitted to the
radar data in the least squares sense. This gives values

Where n = the number of scans or target observations

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A standard α − β tracker does not handle the maneuvering target. An adaptive α − β


tracker is one which varies the two smoothing parameters to achieve a variable bandwidth so
as to be able to follow maneuvres.

The value of α can be set by observing the measurement error x n - xpn. At the start of
the tracking, the bandwidth is set to be wide and is narrowed down if the target moves in a
straight line. As the target maneuvres, the bandwidth is widened to keep the tracking error
small.

A Kalman filter is similar to an adaptive α − β tracker except that it inherently provides


for dynamical targets. Here a model for the measurement error has to be assumed, as well
a model of the target trajectoryand the disturbance of the trajectory.

Disturbances might be due to neglect of higher order derivatives in the model of the
dynamics, random motions due to atmospheric turbulence, and target maneuvres.

Kalman filters can use a wide varietyof models for measurement noise and
trajectorydisturbance, however these are usually assumed to be white noise with zero mean.

A maneuvering target does not always fit this model since it produces correlated
observations. Proper inclusion of realistic dynamical models increases the complexity of the
calculations.

The Kalman filter is sophisticated but costly to implement. Its chief advantage over the
classical α − β tracker is its inherent ability to account for maneuvre statistics. If Kalman filters
were restricted to modelling the target trajectoryas a straight line and if the measurement
noise and trajectory disturbance noise were modeled as white Gaussian noise with zero mean,

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then the Kalman filter equations reduce to α − β tracker equations, with the α and β
computed sequentially by the Kalman filter procedure.

The classical α − β is easy to implement. To handle maneuvering targets, some means


maybe included to detect maneuvres and to change the values of α and β. The data rate
might also be increased during target maneuvres in some radar systems. As means for choosing
α and β become more sophisticated, the optimal α − β tracker becomes equivalent to a Kalman
filter even for a target trajectory with error. Here the computation of α and β require a
knowledge of the statistics of the measurement errors and the prediction errors, and are
determined in a recursive

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manner in that theydepend on previous estimates of the mean square error in the smoothed
position and velocity.

Note: The concept of the α − β tracker or the Kalman filter apply also to a continuous
single target tracker where the error signal is processed digitally. The equations describing the α
− β tracker are equivalent to a Type II servo system

Of the track while scan radar does not receive target information on a particular scan,
the smoothing and predicting operations can be continued by accounting for the missing data.
When data to update a track is missing for a sufficient number of consecutive scans, the track is
terminated.

Example: if the criterion for establishing a track is 3 target reports, 5 consecutive misses is
suitable for termination.

ADT effectively reduces the bandwidth in the radar output allowing the data to
be transmitted to a remote site via narrow band phone lines. This allows the outputs from
several radars to be communicated to a central control point economically.

The adaptive thresholding of the automatic detector can cause worsening of the range
resolution. It would seem that two targets might be resolved if their separation is about 0.8
pulse width. However with automatic detection, the probabilityof resolving targets in range
onlye xceeds 0.9 if theyare separated by 2.5 pulse widths.

To achieve this resolution, a log video receiver should be used and the threshold
should be proportioned to the smaller of the two means calculated from a number of reference
cells on either side of the test cell. This resolution limit assumes that the shape of the return
pulse is not known. (If it were, it would be possible to resolve targets within one pulse width).

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When more than one radar are covering the same volume of space, it is sometimes
desirable to combine their outputs to form a single track file (Automatic Detection and
Integrated Tracking, ADIT). ADIT has the advantage of a greater data rate than a single radar
and reduces the likelihood of a loss of target detections caused by antenna lobing, fading,
interference and clutter. The integrated processing allows a favourable weighting of better data
and lesser weighting of the poorer data.

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OBJECTIVE TYPE QUESTIONSBJECTIVE TYPE QUESTIONS

1. Radar range primarily depends upon [ ]

a. peak transmitted power b. average transmitted

power c. independent of transmitted power d. resolution of radar

2. In radar system which of the following is used for transmitter output tubes [ ]

a. parameter amplifier b. RC coupled amplifier

c. klystron only d. magnetron or travelling wave tube

3. A radar is to have maximum range of 60km. The maximum allowable pulse repetition
frequency for unambiguous reception should be [ ]

a. 25 pps b. 250 pps c. 2500 pps d. 25,000 pps

4. An MTI radar operates at 10 GHz with PRF of 3000pps. The lowest blind speed will be

90km/hr

a. 40 km/hr b. 66 km./hr c. 81 km/hr d. 162 km/hr

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5. In which of the following case the lowest blind speed will be 90 km/hr [ ]

a. frequency 1 GHz an PRF 300 pps b. frequency 3 GHz and PRF 500 pps c.

frequency 5 GHz and PRF 700 pps d. frequency 7 GHz and PRF 1000 pps

6. If a given maximum range of radar is to be doubled, all other factors remaining constant
the peak power must be increased [ ]

a. four fold b. eight fold c. sixteen fold d. thirty fold

7. The maximum range of a radar depends on all of the following except [ ]

a. peak transmitted pulse power b. direction of movement of

target c. target area d. capture are

8. The antenna used for radar is [09M03] [ ]

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a. paraboloidal antenna b. isotropic radiator

c. resonant antenna d. whip antenna

9. Noise figure of radar receiver is 12 dB and its bandwidth is 2.5 MHz. the value of

Pmin for this radar will be [ ]

a. 1.59 X 10 -9 watt b. 1.59 X 10-13 watt c. 1.59 X 10-15watt d. 1.59 X 10-17 watt

10. IN radar system the lobe switching technique is used to [09S01] [ ]

a. scan the area b. move antenna in the direction fo the object

c. locate the target accurately d. move the weapon in the required direction

11. Radar display is [ ]

a. A scope display `b. PPI c. MTI d. CRO

12. The minimum receivable signal in radar receiver which has an IF bandwidth of 1.5

MHz and is 9 dB noise figure will be [ ]

a. 4.17 X 10 -10 watt b. 4.17 X 10 -12 watt


c. 4.17 X 10-14 watt d. 4.17 X 10-16 watt

13. The advance and retard switches for the circuit are needed due to [ ]

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a. the gate generators being unstable b. scanner and deflection coil

misalignment c. in accuracies in the power supply d. failure of the switch

circuits

14. When real transmitted power on a radar system, is increased by a factor of 16,.
The maximum range will be increased by a factor of [ ]

a. 2 b. 4 c. 8 d. 16

15. The signal arriving from the transmitter to the display unit is the [ ]

a. trigger b. echoes c. heading marker d.bearing information

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16. The delay unit section of the VRM/ delay unit can be used to [ ]

a. extend the range of radar` b. reduce radar

interference c. expand an area for examination

d. extend the range of radar and expand an area for examination

17. The trigger circuit [ ]

a. is a switch connecting high voltage through to

magnetron b. is a master timing device of the radar

c. is microwave frequency oscillator

d. receives bearing information from the scanner.]

18. An AFC system produces a control voltage to control the --- frequency [ ]

a. Magnetrons b. Local oscillator’s

c. PRF oscillator’s d. Tabulator

19. The local oscillator’s frequency is [ ]

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a. 60 MHz above the echo frequency b. 60 MHz below the echo frequency

c. 30 MHz above the echo frequency d. 30 MHz below the echo frequency

20Sea clutter returns occur [10M05] [ ]

a. due to reflections from rain clouds b. at short ranges

c. due to land reflections d. due to satellite reflections

Answers:

1.a 2.d 3.c 4.d 5.b 6.c 7.b 8.a 9.b 10.c

11.a 12.c 13.b 14.a 15.a 16.d 17.b 18.b 19.b 20.b

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ESSAY TYPE QUESTIONS

1. What is a delay line canceller? Illustrate the concept of blind speeds based on the
frequency response of a single delay line canceller.

2. Discuss the factors limiting the performance of an MTI system.

3. What are blind speeds? Suggest a method to reduce the effect of blind speeds
for unambiguous detection of a moving target.

4. Calculate the lowest blind speed of an MTI system operating at 3.6 cm wave length
and transmitting at a pulse repetition time of 330 µS.

5. Explore the possibility of broadening the clutter rejection null using a second dlay line
canceller in the MTI radar system.

6. Describe automatic tracking of a target through range gating technique for


unambiguous detection of a moving target.

7. Calculate the lowest blind speed of an MTI system operating at 4.2 cm wave length
and transmitting at a pulse repetition time of 286 µS.

8. Explore the possibility of broadening the clutter rejection null using a second delay
line canceller in the MTI radar system.

9. With the help of necessary blo ck diagram explain the operation of an MTI radar
system with a power amplifier in the transmitter.

10.Compare and contrast the situations with a power amplifier and a power oscillator in
the transmitter of an MTI system

11.Describe the method of staggering pulse repetition frequency to reduce the effect of
blind speeds in an MTI system.

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12.Explain the following limitations of MTI radar.


(a) Equipment instabilities.

(b) Scanning modulation.

(c) Internal fluctuation of clutter.

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13.MTI radar is operated at 9GHz with a PRF of 3000 pps. Calculate the first two lowest
blind speeds for this radar. Derive the formula used.

14.Discuss the liminations of non-cohorent MTI Radar systems.

15.Write the description of Range gate Doppler filters.

16.Explain the operation of MTI radar with 2 pulse repetition frequencies.

17.Explain the function of time domain filter with an example.

18.MTI radar operates at 10GHz with a PRF of 300 pps. Calculate the lowest blind speed?

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