ECE 422: RADAR ENGINEERING AND

NAVIGATIONAL AIDS

Dr. K.Murali Krishna

B.Tech., M.E., Ph.D, MISTE, MIEEE, Fellow IETE
Professor
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
‘’Education is the key success in life, and teachers
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imagination and instill a love of learning’’
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–Albert Einstein
 Charles Bradford "Brad" Henry (born July 10,1963)
was the 26th Governor of Oklahoma. A member of
the Democratic Party, he was elected governor in
2002.
Solomon Ortiz, Jr. (born July 21, 1977) is a
Democratic former member of the Texas
House of Representatives, serving from 2006
to 2011.

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. He

developed the general theory of relativity, one of the two pillars
of modern physics.
Einstein's work is also known for its influence on the philosophy
of science.
 ECE 422 RADAR ENGINEERING AND NAVIGATIONAL AIDS
1. Radar Equation, Radar Block Diagram and Operation, Prediction of Range, Minimum
Detectable Signal, Receiver Noise, Probability Density Functions, S/N, Integration of
Radar Pulses, Radar Cross-section, Transmitter Power, PRF and Range Ambiguities,
Radar Antenna Parameters, System Losses and Propagation Effects.

2. MTI and Pulse Doppler Radar: Introduction, Delay line Cancellers, Moving target
Detector, Limitation to MTI performance, MTI from moving platform, Pulse Doppler
Radar

3. Tracking Radar, Sequential Lobing, Conical Scan, Monopulse tracking Radar, Low angle
tracking, Pulse compression, Block Diagrams of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR),
Phased array Radars,. MST Radar, ECM, ECCM

4. Radar Receiver, Mixers, Radar Displays, Receiver Protectors.

5. Principles of Direction Finders, Aircraft Homing and ILS, Radio Altimeter, LORAN, DECCA,
OMEGA, Inland Shipping Aids.
Text Book:
1. "Microwave and Radar Engineering" by Gottapu Sasi Bhushana Rao, ISBN –
978813179944 Pearson Education Chennai 2013.
2. Radar Engineering and Fundamentals of Navigational Aids, G S N Raju, IK International
Publishers, 2008
References
1.Introduction to Radar Systems, Skolnik, McGraw Hill, 2007.
2. Foundations For Microwave Engineering, R. R. Collin, McGraw Hill.
3. Microwave Communications – Components and Circuits, E. Hund, McGraw
Hill. 4. Microwave Devices and Circuits, S. Y. Liao, PHI. 5. Microwave Engineering, R. Chatarjee, East – West Press
Pvt. Ltd.
Course Objectives
1. To become familiar with basics of Radar.
2. To get complete knowledge about the different types of Radar and their
operation.
3. To become familiar with signal detection techniques.
4. To understand the concepts of Radio Navigation techniques

Course Outcomes
1. Acquired knowledge about Radar and Radar Equations.
2. Understanding the working principal of MTI and Pulse Doppler Radar.
3. ability to work using Detection of Signals in Noise and Radio Direction
Finding.
4. ability to work using Instrument Landing System.
5. Ability to work with Satellite Navigation System.
 RADAR
1. Radar is an object-detection system that uses radio
waves to determine the range, angle, or velocity of
objects.
2. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft,
guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations,
and terrain.
3. A radar transmits radio waves or microwaves that
reflect from any object in their path.
Introduction

R = ct/2 meters.
• RADAR- Radio Detection and Ranging
• Higher the frequency better the result
• Theory of reflection (Absorbtion and re-
radiation)
• Location parameters: Range, height, direction,
direction of motion, relative velocity
• High transmitter power requirement
• Suitable oscillator: Magnetron
 Applications
1. Navigational aid on ground and sea
2. Radar altimeters (height measurement)
3. Radar blind lander (aircraft landing during poor visibility)
4. Airborne radar for satellite surveillance
5. Space applications like planetary observations
6. Police radars (Law enforcement and Highway safety)
7. Radars for determining speed of moving targets
8. Remote sensing (weather monitoring)
9. Air traffic control (ATC) and Aircraft safety
10. Ship safety
11. Non-contact method of speed and distance in industry
Military Applications:

 Detection and ranging of enemy targets even at night

 Aiming guns at aircrafts and ships
 Bombing ships, aircrafts, or cities even during night
 Early warning regarding approaching aircrafts or ships
 Directing guided missiles
 Searching for submarines, land masses and buoys
 Radar block digram
• Bistatic radar Transmitter antenna

Receiver antenna
• Monostatic radar
The distance of the target can be calculated
from the total time (t) taken by the pulse to
travel to the target and return to its original
initial point.
Assuming ‘ c ‘ to be the velocity of light in free
space, the distance traversed by pulse is ‘ct’
meters. Now this is 2 times the target distance,
hence the distance to the target
R = ct/2 meters.
 Requirements
 Automatically operating duplexer
 Tx should remain silent during echo period
 Tx pulse should be very powerful
 Rx should be highly sensitive to echo signals and
should be highly immune to noise
 Antenna should be highly directive with large gain
 Pulse repetition frequency (prf) should be high
compared to the scanning period
prf = duty cycle/pulse width
Pav = Pt X duty cycle = Pt X Pulse width X prf
Radar frequency band designations
Band designation Nominal frequency Specific radar bands based
range on ITU assignment
HF 3 – 30 MHz
VHF 30 – 300 MHz 138-144, 216-225 MHz
UHF 300 – 1000 MHz 420-450, 590-942 MHz
L 1 – 2 GHz 1215-1400 MHz
S 2 – 4 GHz 2300-2500, 2700-3700MHz
C 4 – 8 GHz 5250-5925 MHz
X 8 – 12 GHz 8500-10680 MHz
Ku 1 2– 18 GHz 13.4-14, 15.7-17.7 GHz
K 18 – 27 GHz 24.05-24.25 GHz
Ka 27 – 40 GHz 33.4-36 GHz
 Introduction
– Radar → Radio detection and ranging
• Radar is an electromagnetic system for the detection and location of
objects.

• It operates by transmitting a particular type of waveform (ex: pulse

modulated sine wave) and nature of the echo signal.

• Radar has advantage of being able to measure the distance or range to

the object. This is probably its most important attribute.

• Radar has is used to extend the capability of one’s senses for observing
the environment, especially the sence of vision.
 Basic Principles
– Transmits an electromagnetic signal modulated with
particular type of waveform. (modulation depends on
requirements of application)
– Signal is reflected from target
– Reflected signal is detected by radar receiver and
analyzed to extract desired information
– Distance can be determined by measuring the time
difference between transmission and reception
– Angle (or relative bearing) can be determined by
measuring the angle of arrival (AOA) of the signal
(Usually by highly directive antenna)
– If there is a radial component of relative velocity
between radar and target it can be determined from the
Doppler shift of the carrier
 Two types of radar
Monostatic - transmitter and receiver use same
antenna
Bistatic - transmitter and receiver antennas are separated
• Modulation Types

– Simple Pulse; one or more repetition frequencies

– Frequency Modulation FM (radar altimeters)
– Pulse with Chirp (pulse compression)
– CW (continuous wave) - police radar (Doppler)
 The simple form of the radar range equation

• Radar equation relates the range of radar to

the characteristics of transmitter (Tx),
receiver (Rx), antenna, target and
environment.
• It is useful not for determining the range
from radar to target it can serve both for
understanding radar operation and basis for
radar design.
 The simple form of the radar range equation
 If the power of the radar Tx is denoted by Pt , and if an
isotropic antenna is used, the power density ( w/unit area).
 The power density at a distance R from the radar is

 Is cross section the target

Tx Power

Surface area of imaginary sphere of radius R
P
The power density from an isotropic antenna = t
4  R2
P G
The power density from directive antenna = t 2
4 R
P G
t 
The power density of echo signal at radar =
4  R2 4  R2
 If the effective area of Rx antenna is denoted Ae , the power Pr
received by the radar is

Pt G  Pt G  Ae
Pr  Ae 
4  R2 4  R2 4
4  R
2

1/ 4
 P G  Ae 
R max  t 
 
  4   Pr 
2

The maximum radar range Rmax

. Pr is equal to the minimum detectable signal S min
Then the basic radar range equation is
1/ 4
 P G  Ae 
R max  t 
  4  2 S 
 min 

1/ 4
 P G  Ae 
R max  t 
 4  S 
2
 min 
 Classification

1. Continuous Wave Radar (CW Radar) or Doppler Radar

Continuous Wave (CW) radars utilize Continuous
waveforms, which may be considered to be a pure sine
wave of the form cos(2 pi f0t). Spectra of the radar echo
from stationary targets and clutter will be concentrated
at the center frequency f0 for the echoes from moving
targets will be shifted by , the Doppler frequency. Thus
by measuring this frequency difference CW radars can
very accurately extract target relative velocity. Because
of the continuous nature of CW emission, range
measurement is not possible without some
modifications to the radar operations and waveforms
2. Pulsed Radar:
More useful than CW radar. Here the Tx
transmits a train of narrow rectangular shaped
pulses modulating a sine wave carrier. The
range to the target is determined by
measuring the time taken by the pulse to
travel to the target and return to the radar
station.
 Radar range equation
• Radar range equation relates the range of the radar
to the characteristics of the Tx, Rx, antenna, target
and the environment. It is used for radar system
design.
• Pt = power radiated by an isotropic antenna
• Power density at a range R from an
W/m2
isotropic antenna

• .. W/m2
• where G is the directive gain
• Amount of power intercepted by the target = σ
• It is also called the “radar cross section of the target”
• It depend on the target’s shape, size and composition

• Total power intercepted by the target W

• ..

• Received power ,

• Where Ae is the effective area of the antenna.

• The maximum range of the radar Rmax is the
distance beyond which the target cannot be
detected. This happens when Pr = Smin,
minimum detectable signal.

• This is called radar range equation

Factors effecting range of a radar:
• Transmitter power
• Frequency
• Radar cross-section of the target
• Minimum received signal power Pr (min)

Assignment: Receiver Thermal Noise and Signal

to Noise Ratio
 Maximum Unambiguous Range
• Once the radar Tx transmits a pulse, sufficient
time should be alloted so that the echo signal
due to this pulse may be received and
detected before the next pulse is transmitted.
• If the prf is too high echoes may arrive after
the transmission of the next pulse. Such
echoes are called “Second time around
echoes”
Pulsed Radar
• Trigger source
• Pulse modulator
• Microwave oscillator
• Duplexer
• Low Noise amplifier
• Mixer and local oscillator
• IF amplifier
• Detector and Video amplifier
• Indicator or display
• Direction indication from angle data
 UNIT-II
MTI RADAR

 Instrumentation Radars for RCS measurement

 Types of Instrumentation Radars
 Doppler effect
Doppler frequency shift.
 CW radar
 block diagram
Operation
CW homodyne radar.
 UNIT-II
MTI RADAR
Instrumentation Radars for RCS measurement
Instrumentation Radar is specially designed to
measure the RCS level of a target at a known range.
Types of Instrumentation Radars
1. CW Radar
2. FMCW Radar
3. Gated CW Radar
4. Pulse Radar
 The Doppler Effect
 The shift in frequency of the received echo signal from
a moving target compared to the transmitted frequency
of a radar station is called Doppler frequency shift and
phenomena is called Doppler effect

Let R be the Range of the target

 The number of wavelengths contained in the two way

path between the radar and the target is

 Total phase shift φ =

If R be the range of the moving target then the phase
path is ωd
R ang R and φ changes continuously.
Rate of change of φ is angular frequency.

Where vr is the relative velocity of the target w.r.t. radar.

fd is the Doppler frequency shift.

Where
Continuous Wave Doppler Radar
 Tx generates continuous sinusoidal
oscillations of frequency fo. It is radiated by
the antenna.
 CW radar receives the echo signal while it
transmits.
 If the target is in motion the received echo
signal will be shifted in frequency by an
amount fd ( )
 Mixer isolates the Doppler frequency note fd.
 Beat frequency amplifier eliminates the
echoes from stationary targets and amplifies
the Doppler echo signal.
 This radar is also called CW radar with zero
IF or CW Super-heterodyne radar with Zero
IF or Simple doppler radar or CW homodyne
radar.
 Echoes from natural environment such as land,
sea, and weather are called clutter.
Isolation between Tx and Rx:
Isolation required depends on Tx power, Tx noise
and sensitivity of the receiver
Large distance CW radar introduce more Tx noise
Transmitter clutter: Tx noise that enters the radar
receiver via back scatter from the clutter.
False targets: Tx signal is not a pure CW. The
associated side bands may mask the desired
signals or generated false targets.
 Limitations of simple CW Radar
 Lack of isolation between Tx and Rx.
Receiver burn out
Masking of wanted signals by Tx noise
 Introduction of flicker noise (1/f noise) due to
homodyne
 Lack of matched filter in the receiver
 Unable to identify whether the target is approaching
or receding
 Increased clutter compared to pulsed radar
 Measurement of range is not possible
 CW Radar with Non-zero IF

It is not simple as ordinary CW radar.

Isolation between Tx and Rx
Separate antennas are used for Tx and Rx to reduce Tx
leakage
Local oscillator in the Rx is derived from the Tx signal
mixed with locally generated signal of frequency equal to
that of the receiver IF.
Tx leakage can occur due to Tx clutter also.
Reduction in flicker noise:
Flicker effect noise reduces the receiver sensitivity of a
CW Radar with zero IF (Simple doppler radar). In order to
increase the sensitivity and efficiency we go for CW Radar
with Non-zero IF.
Doppler frequency usually falls in the audio or video
frequency range which is more susceptible to flicker noise.
Flicker noise is inversely proportional to frequency. So as
we shift the doppler freq to IF flicker noise reduces.
 Super-heterodyne receiver with non zero IF
increases the receiver sensitivity above 30 dB
 Receiver bandwidth:
 IF amplifier should be wide enough to pass the
expected range of Doppler frequencies.
 Usually expected range of Doppler frequencies
will be much higher than the doppler frequency.
So a wide band amplifier is needed.
 But as bandwidth of Rx in increased noise
increases and sensitivity degrades.
 Also the Tx signal band width is also not narrow.
 So Rx signal bandwidth again increases.
• SNR can be enhanced by using filter banks for
Doppler amplifier. It approximates a matched
filter
• BW of each filter is wide enough to accept the
signal energy. But not so wide to accept the
noise.
• The more the filters used less will be the SNR
loss and less chance of missing a target

Direction of target motion:

• A simple CW radar loses the sign of doppler
shift during mixing.
• The sign can be obtained by:
• If the output of channel B leads the output of
channel A , the doppler shift Positive.
Approaching Target
• If the output of channel B lags the output of
channel A, the doppler shift Negative.
Receding Target
 Applications of CW radar with Non-zero IF

Police speed monitor

Rate-of-climb meter (During aircraft take off)
Vehicle counting
Antilock braking system
Collision avoidance
In railways as speedometer instead of tachometer
Advance warning system for approaching targets
Docking speed measurement of large ships
Intruder alarms
Measurement of velocity of missiles, baseball etc
 Limitations of CW radar with Non-zero IF

False targets

Unable to detect the range of the target

 Frequency Modulated CW radar
• FM CW radar is capable of measuring the relative
velocity and the range of the target with the
expense of bandwidth.
• By providing timing marks into the Tx signal the
time of transmission and the time of return can
be calculated. This will increase the bandwidth
• More distinct the timing, more accurate the
result will be and more broader will the Tx
spectrum
• Here it is done by frequency modulating the
carrier and the timing mark is the change in
frequency
• Block diagram:

• Tx frequency increases linearly with time

(solid line)
• The echo signal will return after a time
(dashed line)
• 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 is a
measure of the target's range and fb = fr,
• If the rate of change of the carrier frequency
is , the beat frequency is
• In practical receivers triangular frequency
modulation is used.

• (b)= Triangular freq modulation

• (c)= Corresponding beat note
• If the frequency is modulated at a rate fm over
a range Δf the beat frequency is

• The reference signal from the transmitter is used

to produce the beat frequency note
• Beat frequency is amplified and limited to
eliminate any amplitude fluctuations.
• The freq of the amp-limited beat note is
measured with a cycle counting frequency meter
calibrated in distance
• If the target is not stationary doppler
frequency shift will be superimposed on the
FM range beat note and an erroneous range
measurement results
• The beat frequency due to range fr can be
calculated as

• One-half the difference between the frequencies

will yield the doppler frequency.
• If there are more than one target, the range to
each target may be measured by measuring the
individual frequency components by using a bank
of narrow band filters.
• If the targets are moving the task of measuring
the range of each becomes complicated
 FM CW Altimeter
• To measure the height above the surface of the earth FM
CW radar is used as aircraft radio altimeter.
• Low Tx power and low antenna gain is needed because of
short range.
• Since the relative motion between the aircraft and
ground is small, the effect of the Doppler frequency
shift may usually be neglected.
• Frequency range: 4.2 to 4.4 GHz (reserved for altimeters)
• Solid state Tx is used here.
• High sensitive super-heterodyne Rx is preferred for better
sensitivity and stability
• Block diagram:
• The output of the detector contains the beat
frequency which contains doppler frequency and
the range frequency.
• It is amplified to a level enough to actuate the
frequency measuring circuits.
• The average frequency counter determines the
range

• The switched frequency counter determines the

Doppler velocity
• Averaging frequency counter is necessary in an
altimeter, since the rate of change of altitude is
usually small
• In an altimeter, the echo signal from an extended
target varies inversely as the square (rather than
the 4th power)of the range, because greater the
range greater the echo area illuminated by the
beam.
• Low frequency amplifier is a narrow band filter
which is wide enough to pass the received
signal energy, thus reducing the amount of noise
with which the signal must compete.
• The average frequency counter is a cycle counter.
It counts only absolute numbers. So there may be
step errors or quantization errors
 Unwanted signals in FM altimeter:
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.
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.
 MTI and Pulsed Doppler Radar
 Using the principle of doppler frequency shift in
pulsed radar the relative velocity of the target can be
determined.
 A pulse radar that utilizes the doppler frequency
shift as a means for discriminating moving from fixed
targets is called an MTI (moving target indication) or
a pulse doppler radar.
 MTI is a necessity in high-quality air-surveillance
radars that operate in the presence of clutter. Its
design is more challenging than that of a simple pulse
radar or a simple CW radar.
• A CW radar is converted to pulsed radar by,
• The difference between simple pulse radar and
pulse doppler radar is that in pulse doppler radar
the reference signal at the Rx is derived from the
Tx, where as in simple pulse radar the reference
signal at the Rx is from a local oscillator.
• Here the reference signal acts as the coherent
reference needed to detect the doppler
frequency shift. The phase of the transmitted
signal is preserved in the reference signal.
Operation:
• Let the CW oscillator signal be
• Then the reference signal is,
• Doppler shifted echo signal can be represented as,

• The reference signal and the target signal are

heterodyned in a mixer and the output is the
difference frequency component

• The difference frequency is the doppler frequency.

• For stationary targets Vdiff is a constant.
• The voltages mentioned above are shown in the fig
below.
• Sample waveforms (bipolar)
• Moving targets may be distinguished from
stationary targets by observing the video
output on an A-scope (amplitude vs. range).
• Echoes from fixed targets remain constant
throughout, but echoes from moving targets
vary in amplitude from sweep to sweep at a
rate corresponding to the doppler frequency.
• The superposition of the successive A-scope
sweeps is shown in Fig. The moving targets
produce, with time, a " butterfly" effect on the
A-scope.
• It is not appropriate for display on the PPI.
Figure (a-e)
Successive sweeps of
an MTI radar A-
scope display (echo
amplitude as a
function of time);
(f) superposition of
many sweeps;
arrows indicate
position of moving
targets.
• Delay line cancelers: One method commonly
employed to extract doppler information in a
form suitable for display on the PPI scope is
with a delay-line canceler

• The delay-line canceler acts as a filter to

eliminate the dc component of fixed targets and
to pass the ac components of moving targets.
Typical MTI
radar (With
Power
Amplifier)
• It differs in the way in which the reference signal
is generated.
• The coherent reference is supplied by an
oscillator called the coho, which stands for
coherent oscillator. The coho is a stable oscillator
whose frequency is the same as the
intermediate frequency used in the receiver.
• The output of the coho fc is also mixed with the
local-oscillator frequency fl. The local oscillator
must also be a stable oscillator and is called
stalo, for stable local oscillator.
• The RF echo signal is heterodyned with the
stalo signal to produce the IF signal just as in the
conventional super-heterodyned receiver.
• The characteristic feature of coherent MTI
radar is that the transmitted signal must be
coherent (in phase) with the reference signal in
the receiver. This is accomplished by the coho
signal.
• The function of the stalo is to provide the
necessary frequency translation from the IF to
the transmitted (RF) frequency. Any stalo phase
shift is canceled on reception.
• The reference signal from the coho and the IF
echo signal are both fed into a mixer called the
phase detector. Its output is proportional to the
phase difference between the two input
signals.
• Triode, tetrode, klystron, traveling-wave
tube, and the crossed-field amplifier can be
used as the power amplifier
• A transmitter which consists of a stable
low-power oscillator followed by a power
amplifier is sometimes called MOPA, which
stands for master-oscillator power amplifier.
MTI radar (with power-oscillator Tx)
• In an oscillator the phase of the RF bears no
relationship from pulse to pulse. For this reason
the reference signal cannot be generated by a
continuously running oscillator. However, a
coherent reference signal may be readily
obtained with the power oscillator by
readjusting the phase of the coho at the
beginning of each sweep according to the phase
of the transmitted pulse. The phase of the coho
is locked to the phase of the transmitted pulse
each time a pulse is generated.
• A portion of the transmitted signal is mixed with the
stalo output to produce an IF beat signal whose phase
is directly related to the phase of the transmitter.
• This IF pulse is applied to the coho and causes the
phase of the coho CW oscillation 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 may be used as the
reference signal for echoes received from that
particular transmitted pulse.
• Upon the next transmission another IF locking pulse is
generated to relock the phase of the CW coho until
the next locking pulse comes along.