Digital Radio Frequency Memories

Class Notes
Winter 2015
Dave Adamy
Adamy Engineering
1420 Norfolk Ave, Atwater, CA 95301
Tel(209)357-4433 Fax(209)357-4434
www.lynxpub.com
 Scope of Course

• Overview of the DRFM Function

• Digitization Issues
• Modern RADAR Features
• RCS analysis issues
• How DRFMs recreate Complex Waveforms
• Extra Appendix – How to use Slide Rule
 Handout Material
• Course Syllabus
– All visual aids + exercise work-sheets
• EW Pocket Guide
• Antenna & Propagation Slide Rule
 Follow-up Material
When issues that require follow-up arise in class,
they will be put onto the following server site:

https: //lynxpub.homeserver.com

User name: Student

Password: !Ne3dthefile

Note that there is no www in the address.

There are also full size copies of nomographs, etc
that you can download from this site.
 Further Reading

The material in this course is primarily taken from

Chapter 8 of the new text book EW104 (Artech House 2015)
 The DRFM Function
• A DRFM digitizes an RF Signal, modifies it
in a computer, and coherently
rebroadcasts the modified signal
– I & Q digitization is required to preserve
phase information
• A DRFM can also generate a multifaceted
signal to accurately represent the RADAR
return from a real (complex) target
BASIC DRFM BLOCK DIAGRAM

SIGNAL FILTER ADC

IN

LOCAL MEMORY COMPUTER

OSC

SIGNAL FILTER DAC

OUT
I & Q DIGITIZATION
¼λ
Independent Samples
 WIDEBAND DRFM

WIDEBAND DRFM

IF Band WIDEBAND
FILTER
Input ADC

SYSTEM DRFM MEMORY COMPUTER

L.O. L.O.

IF Band
Output FILTER DAC
 NARROWBAND DRFM

LPF DRFM
PWR DIV
SIGNAL LPF DRFM
IN
LPF DRFM

SYSTEM
VCO VCO VCO
L.O.
COMBINER

LPF
SIGNAL
OUT LPF

LPF
 PULSE-DOPPLER RADAR PROCESSING
Determined by PD RADAR
Doppler filter Expects
In which signal Return within
Is received Velocity Cells One filter
Range Cells

Determined by
pulse return
time
SCANNING RADAR TARGET COVERAGE

Angular coverage
Of antenna scan

Target

Antenna
Beam width

PD radar has processing gain

= CPI x PRF

CPI can equal illumination time

 CHAFF CLOUD DIPOLE MOVEMENT

Wind

Radar
Transmission
Chaff
Frequency
Cloud

Reflected
Spectrum
Doppler Spread by
Shift from Chaff Dipole
wind Movement

Frequency
 SEPERATING TARGETS IN PD RADARS

Velocity Cells

Velocity cells
From Doppler Filter
Corresponding to
True relative range

Range Cells
Rate of target
ACTUAL
TARGET

Velocity cells
From Doppler Filter
Corresponding to FALSE
Range rate of jamming TARGET
platform FROM
JAMMER
 FREQUENCY HOPPING RADARS

Hopping Range

Randomly
Chosen
Pulse
Transmission
Frequencies

Frequency
LEAST JAMMED FREQUENCY COVERAGE

Noise
Jamming
Frequency
Range

Pulse
Frequencies

Frequency
 BANDWIDTH MATCHED JAMMING

Jamming
Frequencies

Pulse
Frequencies

Frequency
 SPREADING OF JAMMING SIGNAL
Noise Spread
Across Hopping
Range
JAMMING

Pulse
Frequencies

Frequency
FOLLOWER JAMMING WITH DRFM
DRFM measures
Freq. and sets
Jamming Freq

JAMMING at HOP FREQUENCY

Pulse Width

Time
 CHIRPED PULSE

FREQUENCY

TIME
ERP

TIME
 RESOLUTION CELL WITH CHIRP

RADAR RESOLUTION CELL

WITHOUT COMPRESSION RADAR RESOLUTION CELL
WITH LFMOP COMPRESSION
 CHIRPED PULSE PROCESSING

Chirp Compressed
Received Skin Return Pulse
Jamming
Pulse Uncompressed
w/o LFMOP Jammer Pulse

COMPRESSIVE
FILTER
Received
Skin Return
With LFMOP
DRFM SIMUATION OF CHIRPED PULSE

DRFM DSP

ADC ANALYZE GENERATE

FREQUENCY RF SEGMENTS
HISTORY @ DIFFERENT
FREQUENCIES

LO MEMORY
OUTPUT STEPPED ARRANGE RF
FREQ SLOPE ON SEGMENTS TO
SUBSEQUENT MATCH RADAR
DAC PULSES CHIRP
 RADAR WITH BARKER CODE

BINARY
AMPLITUDE POWER
OSCILLATOR PHASE
MODULATOR AMPLIFIER
MODULATOR

PSEUDO-
RANDOM
ISOLATOR
CODE

DETECTION TAPPED RECEIVER

& ANALYSIS DELAY LINE FRONT END
ASSEMBLY
 BARKER CODE PROCESSING
INPUT TO TAPPED DELAY LINE
180° Phase Shift

+ + + - - + -

BIT
DURATION

PULSE DURATION TIME


is180°
INPUT
Phase Shift
  

SUMMED
OUTPUT
TAPPED DELAY LINE

OUTPUT FROM
TAPPED
DELAY LINE BIT
DURATION
 RESOLUTION CELL WITH BARKER CODE

HALF PULSE 3 dB beamwidth

DURATION UNCOMPRESSED
(x SPEED OF LIGHT) RADAR RESOLUTION
CELL
1 ft/nsec

COMPRESSED
RADAR RESOLUTION
CELL
 BARKER CODE IMPACT ON JAMMING

Jamming Pulse
without
Matched
Barker Code

TAPPED
DELAY
LINE
Skin Return Pulse
With Matched
Barker Code PROCESSING
WINDOW
 DRFM HANDLING OF BARKER CODE

RF
Digitized
PULSES
DRFM Radar PROCESSOR
FROM
Pulses
RADAR
Determine bit duration and
code from 1st pulse

Generate digital “one” & “zero”

code bits
COHERENT Digitized
RF Jamming Assemble correct bits
JAMMING Pulses to reproduce radar code

PULSES Modify pulse amplitude,

TO frequency and timing for
RADAR jamming modulation
COMPLEX RCS
 RCS MEASUREMENT IN CHAMBER

TARGET

RADAR

RADIO
TRANSPARENT
SUPPORT

RADIO
ABSORPTIVE
MATERIAL

TURN TABLE
 RCS COMPONENTS

CYLINDER

COMPLEX
CURVED
SHAPE CONICAL
CONICAL SECTION
CONE SECTION

INTERSECTION CURVED
OF TWO CURVED PLATES
SURFACES
 Realistic Return Pulses

SIMPLE PULSE

TARGET RETURNS

REALISTIC
RETURN
PULSE

Modern RADAR may reject simple pulse

 COMPUTER MODEL OF TARGET

FROM CHAMBER OR
COMPUTER ANALYSIS

RCS DATA

EXTRACT
Feature 1 Phase,
IMPORTANT amplitude & position GENERATE
FEATURES COMPOSITE
DATA BASE

FOR ALL SIGNIFICANT

FEATURES OF TARGET
 COMPLEX RCS IN OLDER SYSTEMS

CONTROL

DOPPLER
A/D MEMORY D/A MODULATOR

CONTROL
C
DOPPLER O
A/D MEMORY D/A MODULATOR M TO
FROM B X XMTR
RCVR X I
N
E
R

CONTROL

DOPPLER
A/D MEMORY D/A MODULATOR

LO
 SINGLE DRFM WITH FPGAs

DOPPLER MODULATOR RANGE

GENERATOR DELAY

FROM QUADRATURE
A/D GENERATION
RCVR
DOPPLER MODULATOR RANGE
GENERATOR DELAY
C
O D/A
M
TO
B
DOPPLER MODULATOR RANGE XMTR
I
GENERATOR DELAY
N
E
R

DOPPLER MODULATOR RANGE

GENERATOR DELAY
 DRFM Based Decoy

This is an expendable radar decoy (called Bright Star) from SELEX. It

inclues multiple DRFMs.

An issue is that it is the size of a beer can and thus needs a special
Dispenser
 TIMING OF PULSE CAPTURE

Received
Waveform

Pulse
Width
Maximum Process
Latency

Transmitted
Waveform
DRFM CAPTURE OF CHIRP

Pulse Width

Analysis Increments

Received
Frequency
Modulation

Transmitted
Frequency
Modulation
DRFM CAPTURE OF BARKER CODE

Pulse Width

BPSK code clock

Received BPSK
Modulation
On first pulse

Transmitted BPSK
Modulation
On subsequent pulses
 CAPTURE OF UNIQUE PULSES

Received
Waveform Pulse Width

Process
Latency
Time

Transmitted
Waveform Rebroadcast Pulse Width
 COHERENT PULSE
vs NON-COHERENT JAMMING
in PD RADAR

Non-coherent
Coherent Jamming
Skin signal
Return

Doppler Frequency Cells

 LEADING EDGE TRACKING
vs RGPO

Radar tracks on leading edge

Radar Pulses
 DRFM CAPTURE
of FREQUENCY HOPPED PULSES
DRFM captures frequency

Radar Pulse

Jammer
Pulse
Frequency

DRFM captures frequency

Radar Pulse

Jammer
Pulse DRFM captures frequency

Radar Pulse

Jammer
Pulse

Time
DRFM CAPTURE OF PC RADAR PULSES

DRFM captures Pulse

Compression modulation
parameters

Radar pulses

Pulses have matched pulse compression modulation

Jammer Pulses
 PIPE-LINING DRFM OPERATION

Radar pulses

Jammer Pulses

Consider high-prf PD Radar

 CURRENT DRFM SPECS
• Bandwidth – 1 to 2 GHz
• Number of bits – up to about 5
• Latency – less than 50 nsec.
 ADC OVERSAMPLING
• The Problem
– Need very high sampling rate for Bandwidth
– Need multiple Bits to Avoid Spurs
– ADCs trade off speed vs # of Bits
• The Solution Approaches
– Tapped Delay Line
– Shift Registers with 1 bit Digitizers
 Series-parallel Sampling

TAPPED DELAY LINE

SIGNAL
IN Δt 2Δt 3Δt 4Δt

Clock/5 ADC ADC ADC ADC ADC

DIGITAL
MUX
OUTPUT
(Clock rate)

Digitizes at 5 x max ADC rate

 1 bit DRFM
• Hard Limit signal
• Really Fast (much faster than A/D Conv)
• Capture zero crossings
• Spurs a problem
• This captures the frequency of signal only
• Requires no A/D converter
 Shift Register Series-parallel Conv.

SIGNAL HARD
SHIFT REGISTER CLOCK
IN LIMITER

WRITE
CLOCK/8 RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY COMPUTER
DELAYED
READ

SIGNAL
CLOCK SHIFT REGISTER OUT
 Appendix

Extra Slides
How to Use Slide Rule
Antenna & Propagation Calculator
1 m = 3.3 ft 1ft = .3m
Antenna Calculations
1

Free Space Attenuation

Ant. Gain reduction vs surface

2 2 Ray Attenuation

Fresnel Zone

Calculate dB
Antenna Amplitude Pattern
Antenna & Propagation Calculator
1 m = 3.3 ft 1ft = .3m
Antenna Calculations

Free Space Attenuation

Ant. Gain reduction vs surface

2 Ray Attenuation

Fresnel Zone

Calculate dB
Antenna Scales

Antenna Scales
 Antenna Gain & Beamwidth

Set Antenna Diameter (in ft) at Frequency (in GHz)

 Antenna Gain & Beamwidth (cont)

Read Boresight Gain at Efficiency

Note 55% efficiency for Narrow Bandwidth antennas

Antenna Gain & Beamwidth (cont)

Read 3 dB Beamwidth at 3 dB line

Antenna Gain & Beamwidth (cont)

Read 10 dB Beamwidth at 10 dB line

First Null and Sidelobe

First
Sidelobe First Null
Gain reduction vs. Surface Tolerance

Frequency

Gain reduction vs Surface Tolerance

Gain Reduction
Frequency

Gain Reduction

Surface Tolerance
Free Space Attenuation from Formula
LS = 32.44 + 20 Log(d) + 20 Log(f)
LS = Spreading loss between isotropic antennas (in dB)
d = distance in km
f = frequency in MHz
32 is a fudge factor

Warning: This equation only works if exactly

the right units are input

Some Extra Information, not in book:

If Distance in kilometers: round 32.44 to 32 for 1 dB calculations

If Distance in staturte miles: replace 32.44 with 36.52 (round to 37)
If Distance is in nautical miles: replace 32.44 with 37.74 (round to 38)

15
Antenna & Propagation Calculator

Antenna Calculations
1

Free Space Attenuation

sm = 1.6 km
nm = 1.15 sm
Ant. Gain reduction vs surface

2 2 Ray Attenuation

Fresnel Zone

Calculate dB
 Front of Antenna/Propagation slide rule
with line of sight attenuation scales highlighted

1
Free Space Attenuation from Slide Rule

Set Frequency
Free Space Attenuation from Slide Rule

Read Attenuation at Range

Free Space Attenuation from Slide Rule

Also notice short range scale (in meters)

Two Ray Attenuation
Also called: 40 Log d attenuation
distance4 attenuation

Determined from: Formula

Nomograph
Slide Rule

Applicable when: One primary reflector

Frequency low
Antennas wide
Direct and Reflected Rays close to the ground

XMTR RCVR
Transmit Receive
Antenna Antenna
Height Height

GROUND

16
Two Ray Attenuation from Formula

LS = 120 + 40 Log(d) - 20 Log(hT) - 20 Log(hR)

LS = Spreading loss between isotropic antennas (in dB)
d = distance in km
hT = height of transmit antenna in meters
hR = height of receiving antenna in meters

Warning: This equation only works if exactly

the right units are input

Note:
There is no frequency term
Minimum antenna heights may apply
30 MHz over good soil 10 meters
(to 3 meters at 60 MHz & 1 meter at 200 MHz)
Higher over salt water
Use higher of actual or minimum antenna height

16
Antenna & Propagation Calculator

Antenna Calculations
1

Free Space Attenuation

Ant. Gain reduction vs surface

2 2 Ray Attenuation

Fresnel Zone

Calculate dB
Back of slide rule
with two-ray calculation scales highlighted

2
Two Ray Attenuation from Slide Rule

Set Transmit antenna height at link distance

Two Ray Attenuation from Slide Rule

Read attenuation at receiving antenna height

 Propagation mode vs. Fresnel zone distance

RCVR

Fresnel Zone Distance

XMTR

RCVR

13
Fresnel Zone Calculation
FZ = [hT x hR x F] / 24,000

Where: FZ = Fresnel Zone in km

hT = Transmit antenna height in meters
hR = Receiving antenna height in meters
F = frequency in MHz

13
Antenna & Propagation Calculator

Antenna Calculations
1

Free Space Attenuation

Ant. Gain reduction vs surface

2 2 Ray Attenuation

Fresnel Zone

Calculate dB
Back of slide rule with Fresnel zone scales highlighted

2
Fresnel Zone from Slide Rule

Align transmit and receive antenna heights

(both in meters)
Fresnel Zone from Slide Rule

Read Fresnel Zone (in km) at Frequency (in MHz)