Radar velocity

meadsurement
 Doppler Effect
• Radar is able to give radial velocity
of a moving target from Doppler RADAR
ANTENNA
INBOUND

Effect TRANSMIT
PULSE
ECHO

• Doppler effect causes a shift in

frequency of the received echo
signal from a moving target OUTBOUND
ECHO

• Doppler frequency shift

• Let R be the Range of the target RADAR TOWER

• The number of wavelengths contained in the two way path

between the radar and the target,
2R
n
• Total phase shift, 
4 R
  2 n 

 Doppler Effect
• When the target is moving, R and φ change continuously
• The rate of change of φ is angular frequency
d 4 dR 4 vr
d  2 f d   
dt  dt 

where vr = radial velocity of the target towards the

radar
• The Doppler frequency shift,

where 2vr 2vr f o

fd  
 c
vr  v cos 
Pulse Repetitive Frequency
• For a single pulse, the maximum unambiguous range,
Ru,max, is determined by the PRF,
c
PRF 
2 Ru ,max
• High PRF is unambiguous in Doppler but highly
ambiguous in Range since it meets the Nyquist sampling
criteria for Doppler shift of all targets design to detect
but there is little time between pulses for ranging
 Pulse Repetitive Frequency
• Medium PRF radar may be ambiguous in both Doppler
and range since it samples too fast for echoes from long
range but too slow to Nyquist sample the Doppler shift
of all targets
• Medium PRF however has the best of both worlds, a
compromise performance between unambiguity in
Doppler and range
• Low PRF is unambiguous in range but high ambiguous in
Doppler since it waits until the last transmitted pulse
arrives before the next transmission
Radar Range Equation
• The radar range equation (or The Range Equation or The
Radar Equation) provides an indication on the ability of
the radar to detect the presence of a target
• It is used in the radar system design
• Radar range equation relates the target range to the
characteristics of the Tx, Rx, antenna, target and the
environment
• The equation is based on the Friis Transmission equation
 Radar Range Equation
• Radiation from an isotropic radiation source
 Radar Range Equation
• Consider a radar with isotropic radiation, i.e., radiation in
all directions as from the surface of a minute sphere, the
power density per unit area is given by
Pt
Pisotropic 
4 R 2
where Pisotropic = radiation power density of the
isotropic radiation [W/m2]
Pt = peak power in the transmitted pulse
R = distance from the transmitter to the target
4R2 = surface area of an imaginary sphere (the
isotropic isolator) with radius R
 Radar Range Equation
• Radiation from a directional radiation source
 Radar Range Equation
• For a directional radar, the power density per unit
area is given by
PG
Pdirectional  t t2
4 R
where Pdirectional = radiation power density of the
isotropic radiation [W/m2]
Gt = directional gain of the antenna
measured in the target direction
 Radar Range Equation
• A target at distance R intercepts the transmitted
energy, part of the energy will be reflected by the
target
• The re-radiated power due to the reflection
PG
Pt ,t arg et  Pdirectional  t t 2 
4 R
where s = target radar cross section, the target
EM size viewed by the radar
 Radar Range Equation
• The reflected power
from the target ISOTROPIC

received by the RADIATION

Pisotropic 
Pt
radar, 4R 2

RADAR Pt Gt
ANTENNA Pdirectional 
4R 2
Pt ,t arg et G, Ae
Preflected  R


4 R 2
DIRECTIONAL
RADIATION

Pt Gt Pt Gt 
Pt ,t arg et 
PG Preflected 
4R  4R 2

2 2
 t t

 4 R  2 2
 Radar Range Equation
• The power received by the radar by the antenna
depends on the effective aperture,
PG
t t Ae
Pr  Preflected Ae  
but  4 R  2 2

Gr  2
Ae 
4
hence, the radar equation,
PG G  2
Pr  t t r

 4 
3 4
R
• Since same antenna is used for receiving and
transmitting, PG 2  2
Pr  t

 4 
3 4
R
The Complete Radar Equation
• The simple form of the radar range equation is useful in
1st order calculations
• For more accurate and realistic calculations, the
following effects must be considered
• Propagation medium and path
• Atmospheric noise
• System losses
• Thermal noise introduced within the radar
• Signal processing losses
• Other losses associated with particular configurations and
applications
The Complete Radar Equation
• A realistic operational scenario includes propagation medium and
environment
• A loss factor, L, accounts for all system, medium and propagation
losses
The Complete Radar Equation
• For a radar with system temperature 290K, the system
noise
SNRi Si N i N o Ni
Fn   
SNRo So N o So Si
where N and S indicate the noise and signal power
levels and subscripts i and o represent the antenna input
and receiver output
• The equivalent thermal noise,

where k = Boltzman’s constant,

N i  kTB
T = temperature, B = bandwidth
 The Complete Radar Equation
• Overall signal losses include internal loss, LI and
external loss, LE
• The effective input signal power,
Pr
Si 
LE
• The output signal power
Si Pr Pr
So  A  A A
LI LI LE L
where A = radar received power gain and
L = LILE, overall loss factor
The Complete Radar Equation
• The output noise power, N o  AFn N i
N i  kTB
since N o  AFn kTB
The Complete Radar Equation
• The signal to noise ratio at output,
So A Pr L Pr
SNRo   
N o AFn kTB Fn kTBL
since PG 
2 2
Pr  t

 4 
3 4
R

the complete radar equation

PG 
2 2
SNRo  t

 4  R 4 Fn kTBL
3
 The Complete Radar Equation
• Factors affecting detection range of a radar
• Transmitter power, PT
• Frequency, fo, l
• Target radar cross section, s
• Minimum received signal power, Pr
• Antenna, G
• The difference between the signal and noise power
levels determine the detection performance
• A good receiver with low Fn is necessary
Radar Design Considerations
DESIGN PARAMETERS DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
Average Power (Pt)  Peak transmit power
 Allowable duty cycle
Antenna Gain (G)  Aperture size
 Beamwidth
 Operating frequency
Wavelength ()
 Aperture size
System Noise Temperature  Low noise figure
(T)  Signal processing gain
 Ohmic losses
System Losses (L)  Signal processing losses
 Atmospheric loss and clutter
Maximum Detection Range
• The maximum detection range of a target with a specified radar cross
section, , is 1
 2 2
PG 
4 
R t

  4  Fn kTBL  SNRo  
3

• The maximum range is obtained when the signal-to-noise ratio of a

target is minimum,
1
 PG 
2 2
  4

Rmax  t

  4  Fn kTBL  SNRo ,min  
3
Radar Cross Section
• Radar Cross Section (RCS) describes the amount of
scattered power from a target towards the radar, when
the target is illuminated by the RF energy
• EM waves, with any specified polarization, are normally
diffracted or scattered in all directions when incident
wave hit on a target
• The intensity of the backscattered energy that has the
same polarization as the radar’s receiving antenna is
used to define the target RCS
Radar Cross Section
• The target’s RCS fluctuates as a function of radar aspect angle
Radar line of sight

1m

Radar line of sight

• 2 unity scatters of 1 m2 are aligned and placed along the radar line
of sight contributing to the zero aspect angle at a range R
• The composite RCS is consisted of the superposition of the two
individual radar cross sections which is 2 m2
• When the aspect angle varies, the composite RCS is
modified by the phase between the 2 scatters
Radar Cross Section
• The radiation field of an antenna is composed of electric
and magnetic lines of force
• These lines of force are always right angles to each other
• The electric field determines the direction of polarization
of the wave
• When a single-wire antenna is used to extract energy
from a passing radio wave, maximum pickup will be
resulted when the antenna is oriented in the same
direction as the electric field
Radar Cross Section
• 3 types of polarizations:

Vertical Horizontal Circular

• When polarization changes, target RCS changes and it
affects the detection performance
Radar Cross Section
• The maximum detection ranges of the 3 targets with
different RCS when a fixed SNR is used
SNR (dB) Range (km)
  136.1 (Default RCS)
12 76.52 (RCS - delta1)
  181.5 (RCS + delta2)
   
  85.86 (Default RCS)
20 48.28 (RCS - delta1)
  114.5 (RCS + delta2)
• It can be concluded that RCS plays a very important role
to determine the maximum range detected
Probability of Detection
• The probability of detecting a target is affected by its randomness
• The probability of detection, PD, defines the probability of detection a
given target at a given range when the antenna beam passes the
target
• PD is defined as the probability that a sample of the signal exceeded
the threshold when noise plus signal are present in the radar
Probability of Detection
• The probability of detecting a target is affected by its randomness
• The probability of detection, PD, defines the probability of detection a
given target at a given range when the antenna beam passes the
target
• PD is defined as the probability that a sample of the signal exceeded
the threshold when noise plus signal are present in the radar