Module 5

Part 1: RADAR Antenna

Part 2: RADAR Receiver

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Dept. , CMRIT
Syllabus
 Functions of RADAR Antenna

 An antenna is a device that acts as a transducer to provide a

good match between the feeding line as a local source of
power and free space.

 If the antenna is not matched to free space, power will be

reflected back toward the transmitter, resulting in a loss in
radiated power.
 Functions of RADAR Antenna

It performs the following essential functions:

 It transfers the transmitter energy to signals in space with the
required distribution and efficiency.
 It ensures that the signal has the required pattern in space.
Generally, this has to be sufficiently narrow in azimuth to provide
the required azimuth resolution and accuracy.
 It has to provide the required frequency of target position updates.
In the case of a mechanically scanned antenna, this associate to the
revolution rate.
 A high revolution rate can be a significant mechanical problem
given that radar antenna in certain frequency bands can have a
reflector with immense dimensions and can weigh several tons.
 Functions of RADAR Antenna

 It must measure the pointing direction with a high degree of

accuracy
 Concentrates the radiated energy in the direction of the target
 Collects echo energy scattered back to the radar from a target
 Measures angle of arrival of the received echo signal
 Acts as a spatial filter
 Provides desired coverage
 Establishes time between observations
Reflector antennas
Reflector antennas
Reflector antennas
Reflector antennas
Reflector antennas
Reflector antennas
Reflector antennas
Feeds for Paraboloids

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Dept. , CMRIT
 Feeds for Paraboloids

Parameters that can directly influence the performance of an antenna

with integrated reflector:
 Dimensions of the reflector (Big ugly dish versus small dish)
 Spillover (part of the feed antenna radiation misses the reflector)
 Aperture blockage (also known as feed blockage)
 Illumination taper (feed illumination reduced at the edges of the
reflector)
 Reflector surface deviation
 Feeds for Paraboloids

 Defocusing
 Cross polarization
 Feed losses
 Antenna feed mismatch
 Non-uniform amplitude/phase distributions
Reflector antennas- front feed
Feeds in Parabolic Reflector antennas
Offset-Fed Reflector
Offset-Fed Reflector
Cassegrain Antenna

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Department
Cassegrain Antenna
Reflector antennas
Reflector antennas
Reflector
antennas
Reflector antennas – Gregorian antenna
Reflector antennas – Gregorian antenna
Parabolic cylinder antenna
Parabolic cylinder antenna
Parabolic cylinder antenna
 Parabolic cylinder
antenna

AN/TPS 63- Air

surveillance RADAR
The Electronically Steered Phased
Array Antennas

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Department
 The Electronically Steered Phased Array
Antennas In Radar

 The phased array is a directive antenna made up of individual

radiating antennas, or radiating elements.
 It generates a radiation pattern whose shape and direction is
determined by the relative phases and amplitudes of the
currents at the individual elements.
 By properly varying the relative phases, it is possible to steer
the direction of the radiation.
 The Electronically Steered Phased Array
Antennas In Radar

 Individual radiating elements suitably spaced w.r.t one

another.
 Common geometrical forms of array antennas:
 (i) Linear array

 (ii) Planar array

 Broadside array
 Endfire array
 The Electronically Steered Phased Array
Antennas In Radar

 Electronically scanned array - array in which the relative phase

shift between elements is controlled by electronic devices

 Conformal array- array whose elements are distributed on a

nonplanar surface
Radiation pattern of phased arrays
Radiation pattern of phased arrays
 Radiation pattern of phased arrays

 where θ is the direction of the incoming radiation.

 sum of all the voltages from the individual elements:

 The sum can be written

 Radiation pattern of phased arrays

 The magnitude gives field intensity pattern:

Radiation pattern of phased arrays
Radiation pattern of phased arrays
 Radiation pattern of phased arrays

 The radiation pattern is equal to the normalized square of the

amplitude (Array factor - has also been called space factor):
 Radiation pattern of phased arrays

 If the spacing between antenna elements is λ/2 and if the sine

in the denominator is replaced by its argument, then the half-
power beamwidth is approximately equal to:
 Radiation pattern of phased arrays

 When directive elements are used:

 Radiation pattern of phased arrays

 Two-dimensional antenna pattern:

 The normalized radiation pattern of a uniformly illuminated

rectangular array is:
Radiation pattern of phased arrays
Beam steering & Array Feed
Networks

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Department
 Beam steering

 (i) By changing the relative time delays between elements

 (ii) By properly varying the phase of the signals applied to

each element
Beam steering
 Beam steering
 The normalized radiation pattern of the array when the phase
difference between adjacent elements is φ is given by
Feeding an array
Feeding an array
 Module 5
Part 2 : RADAR Receiver

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Department
 The Radar Receiver
 The function of the radar receiver is to detect desired echo
signals in the presence of noise, interference, or clutter.

 It must separate wanted from unwanted signals, and amplify

the wanted signals to a level where target information can be
displayed to an operator or used in an automatic data
processor.
 The Radar Receiver
Modern RADAR Receivers:
 Decision not by operator – automatic
 Constant false alarm rate (CFAR) circuitry
 External interference and hostile electronic countermeasures
 Detection, amplification, signal processing, information extraction,
data processing, EM compatibility, display etc.
 Superheterodyne receiver
 RF i/p signal to IF  Filter shape, BW, gain, stability
 The Radar Receiver
Modern RADAR Receivers:
 Front end : LNAs
 Mixer as front end

 Greater DR
 Larger MTI Improvement factor
 Reduce receiver saturation
 Large NF – compensated by greater Tx power and
bigger antenna
 The Radar Receiver
Air surveillance RADARs:
 More than one type of Rx
 1- Linear amplifier , envelope detector
 2- Doppler processing
 3- Moving weather clutter

 To increase detection Range :

Average Tx power
Area of the antenna
 The Radar Receiver
RADAR Receiver designs:
 Modified Radar Eqn:
 Reduce NF
 Lowering NF:
 Increases receiver cost
 Lowers DR
 Device burn-out
 Less reliability
 More sensitivity - More interference
 The Radar Receiver
RADAR Receiver designs:
 Sufficient Gain
 Total receiver gain is divided between IF and video amplifiers
 Adequate Dynamic Range
 For good MTI Improvement Factor
 No Unwanted phase and amplitude changes
 Protected from overload , saturation, damage
 Timing and reference signals – for proper extraction`
 Modern trend – digital receivers
 Receiver Noise figure
 The noise figure of a receiver was described as a measure of
the noise produced by a practical receiver as compared with
the noise of an ideal receiver.
 The noise figure Fn of a linear network may be defined as:
 Noise figure of networks in cascade
 Noise figure may also be written as:

 where ΔN is the additional noise introduced by the network

itself.
 NF of two circuits in cascade is:
 Noise figure of networks in cascade

 The noise figure of N networks in cascade may be shown to

be:
 Noise figure due to loss in TL
 Loss due to TL between:
 antenna and Rx
 Duplexer
 Receiver protector
 Rotary joint
 Monitoring devices etc.
 LRF and G
 Noise Temperature
 Effective noise Temp, (Te) --- by the n/w – temperature at the
input of the network that accounts for additional noise at the
output.

 Hence :

 System noise Temp, (Ts)

 Noise Temperature
 The effective noise temperature of a receiver consisting of a
number of networks in cascade is:
Super heterodyne Receiver

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Department
 Super heterodyne Receiver
 Low Noise Front end

 Mixers
 Stable oscillator types
 A/D converters

 Phase sensitive detectors

 Mixers
An ideal mixer must possess the following characterisics:
 Low conversion loss,
 Minimized spurious responses,
 Should not be susceptible to burnout,
 Large noise-temperature ratio.
 Noise Figure of Mixer used as Front end

 Single conversion
 Dual conversion
 The conversion loss of a mixer is defined as:

 It is a measure of the efficiency of the mixer in converting RF

signal power into IF.
 Noise Figure of Mixer used as Front end

 Schottky diode: min conversion loss of 3.5 dB and 4dB (S

band)
 Noise-temperature ratio of a mixer:
 Noise Figure of Mixer used as Front end

 the noise figure of the mixer is

 Noise Figure of Mixer used as Front end

 This is not a complete measure of the sensitivity of a receiver

with a mixer front-end.

 The overall NF depends not only on the mixer stage, but also
on the noise figure of the IF amplifier stage.
 Types of Mixers
 Converts the incoming RF (Radio Frequency) to
IF(Intermediate Frequency).
 Output is proportional to Product of RF Echo signal and LO
signal.
 Two output frequencies are produced, sum and difference of
the input Frequencies: fRF ± fLO (Assuming fRF > fLO)
 But (fRF – fLO) is the desired output frequency, (fRF + fLO)
component is filtered out.
 Mixers
 There are two possible difference frequency signals :
fIF =fRF – fLO and fIF = fLO - fRF
 Only one of these two is desired frequency, the other is called
image frequency.
 This image frequency is to be rejected using RF filter or a
special type of mixer called Image-reject mixer.
Mixers
 Types of Mixers

Single-ended Mixer

Balanced Mixer

Double- balanced Mixer

Image-rejection Mixer

Image-recovery Mixer
 Single-ended Mixer
 Also called as an unbalanced or crystal mixer.

 Uses a single diode that terminates a transmission line, LO is

inserted via a directional coupler.

 An LPF after the diode filters out RF and LO signals allowing

only IF.
Single-Ended Mixer
 Single-ended Mixer
Diode being a non-linear device produces inter-modulation products,
called Spurious responses. (When mfRF + nfLO = fIF )
Taylor proposed a mixer chart to determine the RF and LO
frequencies that are free from spurious responses.
Presence of two or more RF signals also results in spurious
responses.
 Balanced Mixer
 Method to eliminate LO noise
 Two single ended mixer in parallel and 180o out of phase.
 A 4-port junction such as magic-T, hybrid junction or 3dB
coupler is used.
 At one diode, the sum of the RF and LO signals appears, and
at the other diode is the difference of the two signals.
Balanced Mixer
 Balanced Mixer
IF signal = Difference of the outputs of the two diode mixers.

Perks:
 LO noise at the two diode mixers are in phase and gets
cancelled out
 Suppresses the even harmonics of either LO signal or the RF

signals.
 Double-balanced Mixer
 Uses four switching devices (diodes) arranged in form of a
ring network
 Wire wound transformer is used as BALUN(to connect a
balanced & unbalanced circuit )
 Double-balanced Mixer
Advantages:
 Better isolation between RF and LO ports.

 Permits wide bandwidth.

 Suppresses even harmonics of both LO and RF ports.

Drawbacks:
 High LO drive required.

 Increased cost and complexity.

 Image-Rejection Mixer
 The RF signal is split into two and fed into two individual
mixers.
 LO signal is split into two using a 90o Hybrid junction.
 A second hybrid junction (IF) imparts another 90o phase shift
to separate the image frequency.
 The port with the image frequency is match terminated.
Image Rejection Mixer
 Image-rejection Mixer
Advantages
 High Dynamic range

 Good VSWR.

 Low Inter-modulation Products.

 Less susceptibility to Burn out.

Drawback:
 Provides only 30dB image rejection, which may not be suitable
for some applications.
 High noise figure.
 Image-recovery Mixer / Image-
Enhanced
 It is a modified version of Image-rejection mixer.
 Mixer conversion loss is reduced by terminating a diode in a
reactance at the image frequency.
 The improvement using this image enhancement is as low as
1 or 2 dB.
 Band pass filtering around the input source prevents the image
frequency from entering into the mixer again.
 Other Parameters
 Dynamic Range
 Flicker Noise
 Oscillator stability
 Phase Noise
 A/D Converters
 Bandpass Sampling at IF
 Digital RADAR Receiver
 Phase –Sensitive Detectors
 Dynamic Range
 Dynamic Range of a radar receiver is the Ratio of max input
signal power to minimum input signal power without
degradation in performance.
 Third order modulation product affects the dynamic range of
radar.
 Third-order distortion products are produced by a nonlinear
device when two tones closely spaced in frequency are fed
into its input
Intermodulation Distortion
 Types of stable oscillators
 Crystal Oscillator
 Frequency Mutliplier
 Dielectric Resonator Oscillator (DRO)
 SAW Oscillator
 YIG oscillator (Yttrium Iron Garnet)
 Klystron and Gunn Oscillator
 High Temperature Super conducting Oscillators
 Direct Digital Synthesis – freq synhesizer
Duplexers and Receiver Protectors

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Department
 Duplexers and Receiver Protectors
 Most radar systems use one antenna to perform the transmit
and receive functions.
 The duplexer must be able to perform the following main
functions:
 • Connect the transmitter to the antenna (and disconnect the
receiver) during the sending period.
 • Connect the receiver to the antenna (and disconnect the
transmitter) during the receive period.
 • Provide for adequate isolation between the receiver and
transmitter at all times
 Balanced Duplexers
 Balanced duplexers make use of the features of two 3 dB short slot
hybrid couplers, in combination with a switching element, to control the
direction of power flow
 TR Tubes
 The TR tube is the most common receiver protector technology in use
today.
 1. gaseous TR tube 2. TR tube with “Keep-Alive”
 TR Tubes
 TR tube with “Keep-Alive”
TR Tubes
 Other Duplexers and Receiver Protectors
 Passive TR-limiter
 Solid-state Receiver protectors, Diode Limiters
 Varactor Receiver protectors
 Ferrite limiters
 Pre-TR limiter
 Multipactor
 Circulators
Other Duplexers and Receiver Protectors
RADAR Displays

T Ninikrishna
Asst. Professor
ECE Department
 RADAR Displays

 Types of display presentations:

 A-scope: A deflection-modulated display in which the vertical deflection is
proportional to target echo strength and the horizontal coordinate is
proportional to range.
 B-scope: An intensity-modulated rectangular display with azimuth angle
indicated by the horizontal coordinate and range by the vertical coordinate.
 C-scope: An intensity-modulated rectangular display with azimuth angle
indicated by the horizontal coordinate and elevation angle by the vertical
coordinate.
 D-scope: A C-scope in which the blips extend vertically to give a rough
estimate of distance.
 E-scope. An intensity-modulated rectangular display with distance indicated by
the horizontal coordinate and elevation angle by the vertical coordinate.
 RADAR Displays

 Types of display presentations:

 PPI, or Plan Position Indicator (also called P-scope): An intensity-
modulated circular display on which echo signals produced from reflecting
objects are shown in plan position with range and azimuth angle displayed in
polar (rho-theta) coordinates, forming a map-like display.
 RNI, or Range-Height Indicator: An intensity modulated display with height
(altitude) as the vertical axis and range as the horizontal axis.
 RADAR Displays

 Types of displays:
 CRT Display
 Stroke and Raster Displays
 Scan Converter
 Flat panel displays (FPD)
 Color in RADAR Displays
 RADAR Displays

 CRT Display
 RADAR Displays

 Scan Converter
 RADAR Displays

 Color in RADAR Displays