Introduction to RADAR Systems.

Saturday, 18 January 2014

RADAR is abbreviated as Radio detection and ranging. Radar is an electromagnetic system, which generates EM signals to detect and to find the distance from system to objects (or) targets near to it.
How it can detect?
As said earlier radar transmits the EM signal from an antenna, these signals spread out in space and when they hit any object they come back to receiver, present in the same antenna. Returned signal is called ECHO signal and the direction it came from provides the direction of object with respect to radar system.
How it determines the Range (distance)?
Radar system is capable of determining the distance from system to object. we know that distance(R) = speed(c) * time(t).
R=(CTr)/2--->eq.1; where c=velocity of signal
                             Tr=pulse repetition time period.
In the denominator 2 is placed, as we calculated the time for to and fro motion.
This range equation does not provide the correct distance from system to object, so many factors have to be included like radar cross section, aperture gain, gain of antenna(G), the power transmitted from the antenna(Pt),minimum power detectable signal(Smin),by this radar equation is developed.Even this is not perfect.
Many other factors like noise need to be included,as noise is the chief facor limiting receiver sensitivity,it needs to be described.Even if you operate in noise free region,then also noise is entered which is due to thermal motion of conduction electrons in the ohmic portions of reciever,this is called johnson noise or thermal noise.So the total noise power at the output of receiver is equal to thermal noise power multiplied by noise figure(Fn).The minimum power Smin will become as
Smin=KToBnFn(So/No),replacing in the above equation will give you the better range valve.

*If a signal is transmitted from radar,it may strike the object at multiple locations, due to this many pulses are usually returned from a object on each scan and can be used to improve detection.The process of summing  all the radar echo pulses to improve the detection is called integration of radar pulses.The integration activity can be performed before the second detector(in the radar block diagram) and after the second detector.The integration performed before is called predetection or coherent detection and after is called postdetection or noncoherent detection.Predetection is mostly  adopted as it is capable of storing the phase information for further purpose like finding the range in CW radar,but postdetection is not entertained as it destroys the phase informaion for further access.
The integration effeciancy is Ei(n)=((S/N)1/n(S/N)n)
                             Where n=no of pulses integrated
                                      (S/N)1 =signal to noise ratio of a single pulse required to produce given probability of detection(n=1)
(S/N)1 =signal to noise ratio per  pulse required to produce same  probability of detection when n pulses are integrated.
Placing the above one in the radar equation we get better results.

*The transmitted power Pt in the radar equation is called peak power.This is not the instantaneous power of a radar wave.The average radar power Pav is ratio of average transmitter power over pulse repetition period.
                                      Pav=(Ptt/Tp)           Tp=pulse repetition period
Replacing the above one in radar equation will give better results.
                             
*Even in the final equation,we havent considered the losses take place in the system,these reduce the signal to noise ratio at the receiver output.These losses are classified depending upon whether they are predictable or not.The losses that are predictable are antenna beam shape losses,plumbing losses,collapsing losses and the losses that aren't predictable are operator losses,integration of radar pulses,the losses due to field degradation.
Plumbing losses are the losses that are experienced in the transmission.
Antenna beam shape losses include the pulses that are returned from target are received correctly or not by aperture of receiver antenna.
Collapsing losses occur in radar that is capable of integrating additional noises samples along with the wanted signal,the additional noise results in a degradation.
*Now we look on another type of radar called CW radar.The difference between the CW radar and the pulse type of radar what we have discussed is,suppose if strong signal has to be separated from weak echo(normally 10-18 times that of transmitted power) then it is better to use continuous wave rather than pulse wave as carrier.
Upto now we had considered that the object(target) is in rest.Now if the target is in motion then relative velocity exists between radar and the target,an apparent shift in frequency will result,this is doppler effect and is basis of CW radar.the doppler frequency is given by
                             Fd=2VrF0/c ------->eq.2         where c=velocity of light
                                                                   Vr=relative velocity
                                                                   F0=Transmitted frequency.
So the frequency that is received at the receiver will be F0 +(or)- Fd.
When the object is approaching towards radar system we have F0+Fd and when the object is moving away from radar system then we have F0-Fd.By this we will know Fd as we know F0(transmitted frequency), and if it is placed in the above equation(eq.2),we get the relative velocity(Vr) existed between radar system and target.
*The major disadvantage with the CW radar is that it cannot measure the range,this can be overcome by modulating the CW carrier.The inability of simple CW radar to measure is related to the relatively narrow spectrum of its transmitted waveform and a widely used technique to broaden the spectrum of CW radar is to frequency modulate the carrier.This type of radar is called FMCW(frequency modulated continuous wave) radar.
In this type of radar the transmitter frequency is changed as a function of time in a known manner which is transmitted and echo is received after time T=2R/c(from eq.1).This echo signal frequency,along with transmitter signal frequency is fed to mixer and the output is beat frequency Fb. suppose if there is no doppler frequency shift i.e no relative motion existed between radar and target,the beat frequency is equal to range frequency Fr=(df0/dt)*T
                                                                   Fr=2Fm*(2R/c)----->eq.3 
We know the returned frequency at the receiver Fr,modulating frequency Fm,velocity of light c,placing all these we get the Range(R).
We calculated the range when the target is in rest,for suppose if target is in motion,then we get two Fb(up)=Fr+Fd
                                                                                                     Fb(down)=Fr-Fd   
Above two equations are added to get the Fr,which is placed in the above equation(eq.3) to get the range(R).       
If suppose multiple frequencies are resulted from the target,then narrow band pass filters are used at the receiver to separate individual frequencies.
*Now we look on another type of radar called “MTI(moving target indicator) radar”,major differences between CW and MTI radar is CW radar operates with continuous wave and the MTI radar operates with pulse wave,so MTI radar is also called as pulse doppler radar.The principle remains the same but there is slight differences between MTI and pulse radar.MTI radar operates with ambiguous doppler measurements but with inambiguous range measurements,whereas the pulse doppler radar operates exactly opposite.
The moving targets produce,with time ,a “butterfly” effect on the A-scope,but for the display on the PPI(plane position indicator),we need delay line canceller,which acts as a filter to eliminate the dc component of fixed targets and to pass as components of moving targets.
*Another type of radar we have to know is “Tracking radar” which measures the coordinates of target and provides data about the position of target in future.
Appliations of Radar:
We have many applications of radar as it can see through those conditions impervious to normal human,such as darkness,dnow,fog and rain.
In ATC(Air Traffic Control),radar is employed for purpose of safely controlling air traffic en route and in the vicinity of airports.
In Aircraft navigation to avoid terror attacks.
In ship safety also radar is employed.In titanic movie the ship hit the iceberg and collapsed because the human was visualising as the human eye cannot see through snow he couldn’t inform it before.now in the ships radar is employed to  signal the operator before he founds it.
In space also radar is employed to detect the asteriods and smash it when found it is approaching towards earth.
In military also radar is employed to detect the enemy moves.
In highways police use it to detect the speed of the vehicles.
In sports like cricket it is used to measure the cricket ball speed.

There are many,these are only few.                 

No comments:

Post a Comment