Radar Systems

IIT Bombay - EE 602

Lecture-1.1
Course Information and Introducing
Radars

Kushal R. Tuckley
1/18/2025
[email protected] 1-1
 Pre-requisites
No conditions in terms of particular courses completed
Basic knowledge of following topics
a. Basic electronics circuits
b. Electromagnetic waves and propagation
c. Microwave Components
d. Digital Signal Processing
Course Evaluation
Quiz- 10%,
Mid-Sem Examination 25%
Presentation Assignment 25%
End Semester Examination 40%
1/18/2025 1-2
 Course Objectives

• Introduce working principle of different types of Radar

Systems
• Understand the functionality and significance of Radar
components and subsystems
• Understand the operation of the radar navigational aids
• Introduce electronic countermeasure techniques
• Develop a capability of designing a radar system for
specific application
• Learn techniques for ‘digital realization’ radar signal
processing systems
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 References
1. M.I.Skolnik, Introduction to Radar Systems, McGraw Hill, 1980.
2. D.K.Barton, Modern radar systems analysis, Artech House, 1988.
3. B. Edde, Radar: Principles, Technology, Applications, Prentice Hall, 1993.
4. Mark A Richards (Ed.), James A. Scheer (Ed.), William A. Holm (Ed.),
‘Principles of Modern Radar: Basic Principles,’Scitech Publishing Inc, 2015,
ISBN-13: 978-1891121524, ISBN-10: 1891121529
5. Hugh D. Griffiths (Ed.), Christopher Baker (Ed.), David Adamy (Ed.),
‘Stimson's Introduction to Airborne Radar (Electromagnetics and Radar)’,
’Scitech Publishing Inc, 3rd Edition, ISBN-13: 978-161353022, 1ISBN-10:
1613530226
6. William L. Melvin (Ed), James A. Scheer (Ed), Principles of Modern Radar:
Radar Applications Har/Psc Edition ’Scitech Publishing Inc, 2014, ISBN-13:
978-1891121548 ISBN-10: 1891121545

Lecture Notes will be the “Syllabus” for this course

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 Brief History of Radars

• Radio waves to detect "the presence of distant metallic

objects" - Christian Hülsmeyer, 1904
• Principles regarding frequency and power level for the
first primitive radar units- Nikola Tesla, 1917
• Detection of aircraft: Robert Watson Watt 1935
• Tested first mono-pulse radar : Robert M. Page 1935
• Unit called RAPID was capable of detecting an aircraft in
an area with radius of 3 km of a receiver:
P.K.Oschepkov 1936
1-5
 What are radars?
• RAdio Detection And Ranging ( )
• Systems working on similar principle:
– SODAR (SOund Detecton And Ranging)
– LIDAR (LIght Detecton And Ranging)
– SONAR (SOund Detecton And Ranging)

180px-Sonar_Principle_EN

Radarops

1-6
 Radar External Look:➔Antennas

Commercial Marine Radar Antenna

Long Range radar Antenna

(for tracking airborne objects)

1-7
 Indian MST
Radar 1992

First Workable
Radar
Watson Watt
1935
1-8
 Radar Systems
IIT Bombay - EE 602
Lecture-1.2
Radar Classification and Applications

Kushal R. Tuckley
1/18/2025
[email protected]
 Radar System Block Diagram

1/18/2025 1-9
 Radar Frequency bands and Applications-1

Band Frequency
Applications
Name Range

coastal radar systems for sea state

HF 3–30 MHz monitoring, Ionospheric sounding, Over the
Horizon (OTH) radars,
('P' for 'previous‘) applied retrospectively to
P < 300 MHz
early radar systems
50 to very long range, ground penetrating, ST and
VHF
330 MHz MST profilers
very long range (e.g. Ballistic Missile early
300 to warning, ground penetrating, foliage
UHF
1000 MHz penetrating; 'ultra high frequency‘, Wind
profilers
long range air traffic Control and Surveillance
L 1–2GHz
Boundary layer radars, (L for long)
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 Radar Frequency bands and Applications-2
Band Frequency
Applications
Name Range
used for through the wall radar and imaging
UWB 1.6–10.5 GHz
systems, Industrial level measurement
Terminal air traffic control, long-range Doppler
S 2–4 GHz
weather, marine navigational radar (S for short)
Satellite transponders, Altimeters, (a compromise,
C 4–8 GHz
hence 'C') between X and S bands weather
Missile guidance, Marine, weather, medium-
resolution mapping and ground surveillance; in USA
X 8–12 GHz the narrow range 10.525 GHz ±25 MHz is used for
airport radar. (Named X band because the frequency
was a secret during WW2)
high-resolution mapping, satellite altimetry;
Ku 12–18 GHz
frequency just under K band (hence 'u')
Ku and Ka were used instead for surveillance. K-
band is used for detecting clouds by meteorologists,
K 18–24 GHz
and by police for detecting speeding motorists. K-
1/18/2025 band radar guns operate at 24.150 ± 0.100 GHz. 1-11
 Radar Applications-3
Band Frequency
Name range
Applications

mapping, short range, airport surveillance above

Ka 24–40 GHz K band (hence 'a') Photo radar, cars running red
lights, operates at 34.300 ± 0.100 GHz.
Millimeter Band, subdivided as below. The
frequency ranges depend on waveguide size.
mm 40–300 GHz
Multiple letters are assigned to these bands by
different groups.
Q 40–60 GHz Used for Military communication.
Very strongly absorbed by the atmosphere.
V 50–75 GHz
Cloud Detection
E 60–90 GHz Collision Avoidance radars, Missile Seeker
used as a visual sensor for experimental
W 75–110 GHz autonomous vehicles, high-resolution
meteorological observation, and imaging.
used for through the wall radar and imaging
UWB 1.6–10.5 GHz
systems, Industrial level measurement
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 Radar Systems
IIT Bombay - EE 602
Lecture-1.3
Pulsed Radars: Processing Scheme

Kushal R. Tuckley
1/18/2025
[email protected] 14
Functional Block Diagram of Pulsed Radars

1/18/2025 1-13
 Timing Diagram and Basic Expressions
for Pulsed Radar

Measurement of Round-trip time for determination of target range

Measurement of frequency shift for determination of target velocity

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Pulsed Doppler
Radar
 Mixer Operation
 qV D
 c 2
V 2
c 3 3
VD
Unfiltered I = I s  e kT − 1  cVD + D
+ + ....
Output   2 6

A cos(Rt ) + B cos(Lt )2 = A2 cos 2 (Rt ) + B 2 cos 2 (Lt ) + 2 AB cos(Rt ) cos(Lt )

= AB cos( R +  L )t + cos( R −  L )t 
RF

LO+RF

LO Frequency components present

ωR, ωL, 2ωR, 2ωL , ωR+ ωL , ωR-ωL
Filtering the desired component by rejecting the unwanted
(a) During down conversion the difference frequency is much lower➔ LPF
(b) During Up Conversion, ‘sum frequency’ is selected using ➔ BPF
In Analog Mixer,
The signals operate in the region indicated by ‘sky-blue’. Hence A≈B
Hence, conversion Loss is 6dB (ideal), 7 dB (Practical)
Digital mixing is implemented as ‘Multiplication’
Linear and square Components (ωR, ωL , 2ωR, 2ωL )are absent
 Image Reject Mixer (IRM)
Image Frequency: It is ‘Unwanted’ frequency component that results in the desired
IRM for Up-Conversion

Subtract to
get ‘sum’
Frequency

IRM for Down -Conversion

 Radar Systems
IIT Bombay - EE 602
Lecture-1.4
Range and Velocity Determination in
Pulsed Radars

Kushal R. Tuckley
1/18/2025
[email protected]
 Timing Diagram and Basic Expressions
for Pulsed Radar

Measurement of Round-trip time for determination of target range

Measurement of frequency shift for determination of target velocity

1/18/2025 1-14
Discreteness in Time and Amplitude
Quantization
Computation of Quantization Noise
Steps in a Typical DSP Application
Aliasing and Anti aliasing Filter
 Illustration for Aliasing

A sine wave of frequency 0.95 Sampling Frequency

Fold over line

-1.5Fs -Fs - 0.5 Fs 0 0.5 Fs Fs 1.5 Fs

Under Sampling
 Digital Frequency Estimation
N −1
X (k ) =
1
N
 x(n)e
n =0
− j 2kn / N
0  k  N −1

Positive Frequency Negative Frequency

Time
 Measuring the Target Range and Velocity
τ Tp=PRP= 1/PRF=1/fp
Transmit Pulses
Amplitude

Resolution of two echoes Received Pulses

τ

t1 t1 Time
t2
t3

R ( Range) =
ct c 2v 2v
R( Range − resolution) = fD = f =
2 2 c 
f Dc f 
Target Velocity v = = D Velocity Resolution Δv= (ΔfD λ/2) = λ / (2 × n × Tp)
2f 2
(when ‘n’ pulses are used for estimation)
cTp c c f- transmit/radar frequency
Maximum Unambiguous Range Run = = =
2 2 fp 2 PRF fD- Doppler frequency
(target movement relative to radar)
( PRF )c fp- Pulse repetition frequency
vun = (ComplexSampling)
Maximum Unambiguous Velocity 4f
1-15
1/18/2025
 Discussions on Range Velocity
Determination by Pulsed Radar

Pulse repetition Frequency (PRF )

Decides the Maximum Unambiguous Range
Decides Maximum Unambiguous Velocity
Pulse Width
Decides the Range Resolution
Decides the Bandwidth
Carrier Frequency
Decided by the application
Decided by the target environment
Total Observation Period
Decides the velocity Resolution

1/18/2025 1.16