Principles of Radar and Its Application PDF

Principles of radar and its application
PRINCIPLES OF RADAR AND ITS

APPLICATION
SUBMITTED BY : NESRUDIN MUSA

SUBMITTED TO : Dr:-Ing MOHAMMED ABDO
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June 18, 2014
Table of Contents
List of figures and tables ............................................................................................................................... 3
ABSTRUCT ..................................................................................................................................................... 4
BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................... 4
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 5
BASIC RADAR CONCEPTS............................................................................................................................... 5
RADAR EQUATION ........................................................................................................................................ 6
Range ........................................................................................................................................................ 6
Bearing .................................................................................................................................................... 10
Altitude ................................................................................................................................................... 11
Range resolution ..................................................................................................................................... 12
RADAR COMPONENTS ................................................................................................................................ 12
Synchronizers .......................................................................................................................................... 13
Transmitters ............................................................................................................................................ 13
Duplexers ................................................................................................................................................ 14
Receivers ................................................................................................................................................. 14
Radar indicators (display) ....................................................................................................................... 15
RADAR TYPES .............................................................................................................................................. 16
Pulse and continuous wave radar ........................................................................................................... 17
TARGET CHARACTERISTICS ......................................................................................................................... 17
SPOOFING A RADAR .................................................................................................................................... 19
RADAR FREQUENCIES.................................................................................................................................. 19
APPLICATIONS OF RADAR ........................................................................................................................... 21
General Applications ............................................................................................................................... 21
Major Applications .................................................................................................................................. 21
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 22
References .................................................................................................................................................. 23
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List of figures and tables

Figure 1 : radar echo
Figure 2 : radar reference coordinates
Figure 3 : radar parameters
Figure 4 : true and relative bearing
Figure 5 : determination of bearing
Figure 6 : Electronic elevations scan
Figure 7 : basic radar components
Figure 8 : Block diagram of typical radar receiver
Figure 9 : radar display type
Figure 10: types of radar
Figure 11: typical radar frequencies
Figure 12: generic radar block diagram
Table1: radar frequency, bands and wavelengths and application
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ABSTRUCT
This report gives brief information about radar and discusses its background, principles It was
German engineer Christian Huelsmeyer who first used the radar principle to build a simple ship
detection device intended to help avoid collisions in fog First widely used radar technology was
developed for military purpose during World War II. Today, more than half a century later, there
is a much wider radar application are a beyond the military one. Radar is needed for weather
forecast, airport traffic control and automotive applications such as car distance surveillance and
pedestrian detection. Additionally radar technology today is affordable on a mass production
basis due to highly integrated signal processing components which make it possible to detect
even low power signals in applications where at former times much more RF energy was needed.
Low power radar components automatically mean savings in costs and size. This paper gives an
overview on radar Systems and important measurements on them.
BACKGROUND
Radar technology was firstly named in the United Kingdom as RDF (Radio Direction Finder)
where the developments started. However, the invention of radar was not declared to a specific
inventor, but many engineers in sever all countries contributed to the development of radar. The
first attempt to use radio waves in radar was to detect the presence of a ship in the middle of the
fog by Christian Hulsmeyer in 1904. In 1917, Nikola Tesla was the first one who established the
basic principles regarding frequency and power level of radar units.
Before the Second World War, many countries performed many experiments to find a way to
predict the enemy aircraft movements and targeting or tracking lunched bombs. The British
government was the first to gather a team of scientists and engineers to research the possibility of
building a system that can send a "death ray" to hit an aircraft in the air and cause damage to the
pilot and his plane. But in 1935, Waston-Watt reported to the government that although it's
possible theoretically but no such high energy ray can be produced to harm an aircraft or its
crew. Despite the failure of "death ray" development, The British developers carried on their
tests until in 1935 when they succeeded in detecting radar echoes from a flying boat at a range of
17 miles and they were able to increase the range afterward. In 1936, The British Air Ministry
was able to build the first radar system called "Cain Home" which consists of an array of towers
of 300 feet high to guide the pilots towards incoming German bombers. Later, Alan Blumlein
succeeded to program a radar circuitry called H2S which is able to allocate a target with a
precision never seen before for the bombers. The H2S radar was a main radar development and
the main role of ending the Second World War by targeting the atomic bomb
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INTRODUCTION
Radar is an acronym which stands for Radio Detection and Ranging and it is a system that
depends on electromagnetic waves to detect some physical properties such as presence, direction,
speed, distance or altitude of stationary or moving object e.g. plane, cars, iceberg or missile.
Since the evolution of radar in the second World War, it has been considered as an essential
technology in many applications like weather forecasting, speedometers, air traffic controlling
and by the military as a defense and offence weapon. Electromagnetic energy of the frequency
used for radar is unaffected by darkness and also penetrates weather to some degree, depending
on frequency.
BASIC RADAR CONCEPTS

The main concept of radar relays on ECHO PRINCIPLE, that is a radio wave of the speed of
light is transmitted, reflected off a target and then returned as echo which is being measured and
calculated. The reflected wave is detected by the receiver which is usually very weak, so the
receiver is connected to an amplifier to enlarge the signal. This gives a chance to the radar to lose
detection of the too weak emissions like sound or visible light.
The electronics principle on which radar operates is very similar to the principle of sound-wave
reflection. If you shout in the direction of a sound-reflecting object (like a rocky canyon or cave),
you will hear an echo. If you know the speed of sound in air, you can then estimate the distance
and general direction of the object. The time required for a return echo can be roughly converted
to distance if the speed of sound is known. Radar uses electromagnetic energy pulses in much the
same way, as shown in figure 1. The radio-frequency (RF) energy is transmitted to and reflects
from the reflecting object. A small portion of the energy is reflected and returns to the radar set.
This returned energy is called an ECHO, just as it is in sound terminology. Radar sets use the
echo to determine the direction and distance of the reflecting object.
Fig 1: radar echo

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Radar systems provide only a limited field of view and require reference coordinate systems to
define the positions of detected objects. Radar requires a precise reference system. Radar surface
angular measurements are normally made in a clockwise direction from TRUE NORTH, as
shown in figure 2, or from the heading line of a ship or aircraft. The surface of the earth is
represented by an imaginary flat plane, tangent (or parallel) to the earths surface at that location.
This plane is referred to as the HORIZONTAL PLANE. All angles in the up direction are
measured in a second imaginary plane that is perpendicular to the horizontal plane
Fig 2: radar reference coordinates

This second plane is called the VERTICAL PLANE. The radar location is the center of this
coordinate system. The line from the radar set directly to the object is referred to as the LINE OF
SIGHT (LOS). The length of this line is called RANGE. The angle between the horizontal plane
and the los is the ELEVATION ANGLE. The angle measured clockwise from true north in the
horizontal plane is called the TRUE BEARING or AZIMUTH angle. These three coordinates of
range, bearing, and elevation describe the location of an object with respect to the antenna.
RADAR EQUATION
Range
Range is the distance from the radar site to the target measured along the line of sight. Radar
measurement of range, or distance, is made possible because of the properties of radiated
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electromagnetic energy. This energy normally travels through space in a straight line, at a
constant speed, and will vary only slightly because of atmospheric and weather conditions.
The radar transmits a short radio pulse with very high pulse power. This pulse is focused in one
direction only by the directivity of the antenna, and propagates in this given direction with the
speed of light.
If in this direction is an obstacle, for example an airplane, then a part of the energy of the pulse is
scattered in all directions. A very small portion is also reflected back to the radar. The radar
antenna receives this energy and the radar evaluates the contained information.
The distance we can measure with a simple oscilloscope. On the oscilloscope moves
synchronously with the transmitted pulse a luminous point and leaves a trail. The deflection
starts with the transmitter pulse. The luminescent spot moves to scale on the oscilloscope with
the radio wave. At this moment, in which the antenna receives the echo pulse, this pulse is also
shown on the oscilloscope. The distance between the two shown pulses on the oscilloscope is a
measure of the distance of the aircraft.
Since the propagation of radio waves happens at constant speed (the speed of light c) this
distance is determined from the runtime of the high-frequency transmitted signal. The actual
range of a target from the radar is known as slant range. Slant range is the line of sight distance
between the radar and the object illuminated. While ground range is the horizontal distance
between the emitter and its target and its calculation requires knowledge of the target's elevation.
Since the waves travel to a target and back, the round trip time is dividing by two in order to
obtain the time the wave took to reach the target. Therefore the following formula arises for the
slant range
c = speed of light = 3108 m/s
t = measured running time [s] (1)
where:
R = slant range antenna - aim [m]
The distances are expressed in kilometers or nautical miles (1 NM = 1.852 km).
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Fig 3: radar parameters

The classic radar equation taking in to account quantities that influence the wave propagation of
radar signals is
Where G= antenna gain

PS= transmitted power (W)
PE=received power (W)
For a given radar equipment most sizes (Ps, G, ) can be regarded as constant since they are only
variable parameters in very small ranges.
The smallest received power that can be detected by the radar is called P Emin. Smaller powers
than PEmin aren't usable since they are lost in the noise of the receiver. The minimum power is
detect at the maximum range Rmax as seen from the equation.
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The maximum range of a pulse radar system depends up on CARRIER FREQUENCY, PEAK
POWER of the transmitted pulse, PULSE-REPETITION FREQUENCY (prf) or PULSE
REPETITION RATE (prr), and RECEIVER SENSITIVITY with prf as the primary limiting
factor. The peak power of the pulse determines what maximum range the pulse can travel to a
target and still return a usable echo. A usable echo is the smallest signal detectable by a receiver
system that can be processed and presented on an indicator.
All considerations, when calculating the radar equation, were made assuming that the
electromagnetic waves propagate under ideal conditions without disturbing influences. In the
practice a number of losses should be considered since they reduce the effectiveness of the radar
considerably.
First the radar equation is extended by including the loss factor Lges.
This factor includes the following losses:
L D = internal attenuation factors of the radar set on the transmitting and receiving paths
L f = fluctuation losses during the reflection
L Atm = atmospheric losses during propagation of the electromagnetic waves to and from
the target
High frequency components, such as waveguides, filters and also a radome, generate internal
losses. For a given radar set this loss is relatively constant and also easily measured.
Atmospheric attenuation and reflections at the Earth's surface are permanent influences
An extended, but less frequent used form of the radar equation considers additional terms, like
the Earth's surface but does not classify receiver sensitivity and atmospheric absorption.
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In this equation, in addition to the already well-known quantities are:
K = Loss factor in place of Lges.
Az = Effective reflection surface in place of
ti = Pulse length
K = Boltzmann's constant
T0 = absolute temperatur in K
nR = Noise figure of the receiver
d = Clarity factor of the display terminal = Reflected beam angle

R = Break-even factor
Re = Distance of the absorbing medium
Bearing
The TRUE BEARING (referenced to true north) of a radar target is the angle between true north
and a line pointed directly at the target. This angle is measured in the horizontal plane and in a
clockwise direction from true north. The bearing angle to the radar target may also be measured
in a clockwise direction from the centerline of your own ship or aircraft and is referred to as the
RELATIVE BEARING.
Fig 4 : true and relative bearing

The antennas of most radar systems are designed to radiate energy in a one-directional lobe or
beam that can be moved in bearing simply by moving the antenna. As can be seen from figure 5,
the shape of the beam is such that the echo signal strength varies in amplitude as the antenna
beam moves across the target. At antenna position A, the echo is minimal; at position B, where
the beam axis is pointing directly at the target, the echo strength is maximum. Thus, the bearing
angle of the target can be obtained by moving the antenna to the position at which the echo is
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strongest. In actual practice, search radar antennas move continuously; the point of maximum
echo return is determined by the detection circuitry as the beam passes the target or visually by
the operator. Weapons-control and guidance radar systems are positioned to the point of
maximum signal return and maintained at that position either manually or by automatic tracking
circuits.
Fig 5: determination of bearing
Altitude
A search radar system that detects altitude as well as range and bearing is called a THREEDIMENSIONAL (3D) radar. Altitude- or height-finding search radars use a beam that is very
narrow in the vertical plane. The beam is scanned in elevation, either mechanically or
electronically, to pinpoint targets. Height-finding radar systems that also determine bearing must
have a beam that is very narrow in both the vertical and horizontal planes. An electronic
elevation-scanning pattern for search radar set is illustrated in figure 6. Lines originating at the
antenna indicate the number of beam positions required for complete elevation coverage. Each
beam position corresponds to a slight change in either the frequency or phase of the radiated
energy. A change in either phase or frequency of the energy causes it to leave the antenna at a
different angle. Mechanical elevation scanning is achieved by mechanically moving the antenna
or radiation source.
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Fig 6: Electronic elevations scan
Range resolution
The target resolution of a radar is its ability to distinguish between targets that are very close in
either range or bearing. Weapons-control radar, which requires great precision, should be able to
distinguish between targets that are only yards apart. Search radar is usually less precise and only
distinguishes between targets that are hundreds of yards or even miles apart. Resolution is
usually divided into two categories; range resolution and bearing resolution.
Range resolution is the ability of a radar system to distinguish between two or more targets on
the same bearing but at different ranges. The degree of range resolution depends on the width of
the transmitted pulse, the types and sizes of targets, and the efficiency of the receiver and
indicator. Pulse width is the primary factor in range resolution. A well-designed radar system,
with all other factors at maximum efficiency, should be able to distinguish targets separated by
one-half the pulse width time .
RADAR COMPONENTS
A typical radar system consists of a SYNCHRONIZER (also called the TIMER or TRIGGER
GENERATOR), a TRANSMITTER, a DUPLEXER, a RECEIVER, and an INDICATOR.
transmitter
Modulator (pulsor)
RF oscilator
duplexer
Synchronizer
Indicator (display)
Antenna
Reciever
Reciever
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Fig 7: basic radar components
Synchronizers
The synchronizer supplies the synchronizing signals that time the transmitted pulses, the
indicator, and other associated circuits. it controls and provides timing for the operation of the
entire system. Other names for the synchronizer are the TIMER and the KEYER. The specific
function of the synchronizer is to produce TRIGGER PULSES that start the transmitter, indicator
sweep circuits, and ranging circuits.
Radar systems may be classified as either SELF-SYNCHRONIZED or EXTERNALLY
SYNCHRONIZED systems. In a self-synchronized system, the timing trigger pulses are
generated in the transmitter. In an externally synchronized system, the timing trigger pulses are
generated by a MASTER OSCILLATOR, which is usually external to the transmitter
The basic synchronizer circuit should meet the following three basic requirements:
It must be free running (astable). Because the synchronizer is the heart of the radar, it
must establish the zero time reference and the prf (prr).
It should be stable in frequency. For accurate ranging, the prr and its reciprocal, pulserepetition time (prt), must not change between pulses.
The frequency must be variable to enable the radar to operate at different ranges.
Transmitters
The radar transmitter produces the short duration high-power RF pulses of energy that are
radiated into space by the antenna. The radar transmitter is required to have the following
technical and operating characteristics:
The transmitter must have the ability to generate the required mean RF power and the
required peak power
The transmitter must have a suitable RF bandwidth.
The transmitter must have a high RF stability to meet signal processing requirements
The transmitter must be easily modulated to meet waveform design requirements.
The transmitter must be efficient, reliable and easy to maintain and the life expectancy
and cost of the output device must be acceptable.
The radar transmitter is designed around the selected output device and most of the transmitter
chapter is devoted to describing output devices therefore:
One main type of transmitters is the keyed-oscillator type. In this transmitter one stage or
tube, usually a magnetron produces the rf pulse. The oscillator tube is keyed by a high13 | P a g e

power dc pulse of energy generated by a separate unit called the modulator. This
transmitting system is called POT (Power Oscillator Transmitter). Radar units fitted with
a POT are either non-coherent or pseudo-coherent.
Power-Amplifier-Transmitters (PAT) is used in many recently developed radar sets. In
this system the transmitting pulse is caused with a small performance in a waveform
generator. It is taken to the necessary power with an amplifier following (Amplitron,
Klystron or Solid-State-Amplifier). Radar units fitted with an PAT are fully coherent in
the majority of cases.
Duplexers
Whenever a single antenna is used for both transmitting and receiving, as in a radar system, problems
arise. Switching the antenna between the transmit and receive modes presents one problem; ensuring that
maximum use is made of the available energy is another. The simplest solution is to use a switch to
transfer the antenna connection from the receiver to the transmitter during the transmitted pulse and back
to the receiver during the return (echo) pulse. No practical mechanical switches are available that can
open and close in a few microseconds. Therefore, ELECTRONIC SWITCHES must be used. Switching
systems of this type are called DUPLEXERS.
A radar duplexer is the microwave equivalent of a fast, low-loss, single-pole, double throw switch.it can
be connected in series or in parallel to transceiver.
An effective radar duplexing system must meet the following four requirements:
During the period of transmission, the switch must connect the antenna to the transmitter and
disconnect it from the receiver.
The receiver must be thoroughly isolated from the transmitter during the transmission of the high
power pulse to avoid damage to sensitive receiver components.
After transmission, the switch must rapidly disconnect the transmitter and connect the receiver to
the antenna. For targets close to the radar to be seen, the action of the switch must be extremely
rapid. The switch should absorb an absolute minimum of power both during transmission and
reception.
Duplexers are constructed in many forms, such as RESONANT-CAVITY COAXIAL SYSTEMS,
WAVEGUIDE SYSTEMS, and HYBRID RINGS. Waveguide and hybrid-ring duplexers are most
common in radar systems.
Receivers
The energy that a distant object reflects back to the antenna in a radar system is a very small
fraction of the original transmitted energy. The echoes return as pulses of RF energy of the same
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nature as those sent out by the transmitter. However, the power of a return pulse is measured in
fractions of microwatts instead of in kilowatts, and the voltage arriving at the antenna is in the
range of microvolts instead of kilovolts. The radar receiver collects those pulses and provides a
visual display of object information.
The characteristics which determine the design requirements of an effective radar receiver are:
Noise, Gain, Tuning, Distortion and Blocking.
ECO signal
Antenna
duplexer
LNA
Mixer
IF amplifier
Vedio
detector
Vedio
amplifier
To indicator
Local
oscilator
AFC filter
From
transmitter
Directional
coupler input from
transmitter
AFC IF
amplifier
AFC
frequency
discriminator
Control
circuit
AFC system
Fig 8: Block diagram of typical radar receiver.
Radar indicators (display)

The indicator should present to the observer a continuous, easily understandable, graphic picture
of the relative position of radar targets. It should provide size, shape, and insofar as possible,
indications of the type of targets. The fundamental geometrical quantities involved in radar
displays are the RANGE, AZIMUTH ANGLE (or BEARING), and ELEVATION ANGLE.
These displays relate the position of a radar target to the origin at the antenna.
Modern radar systems are used for early detection of surface or air objects and provide extremely
accurate information on distance, direction, height, and speed of the objects. Radar is also used
to guide missiles to targets and direct the firing of gun systems. Other types of radar provide
long-distance surveillance and navigation information.
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Fig 9: radar display type
RADAR TYPES
Depending on different criterias there are different types of radars.
Radar
primary
secondary
Continuous
wave
modulated
pulse
Un modulated
Moving target
indicator
doppler
Fig 10: types of radar
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Pulse and continuous wave radar

Pulse radar transmits a sequence of short pulses of RF energy. By measuring the time for echoes
of these pulses scattered off a target to return to the radar, the range to the target can be estimated
by the pulse radar.
Continuous wave (CW) radar systems emit electromagnetic radiation at all times. Conventional
CW radar cannot measure range because there is no basis for the measurement of the time delay.
Recall that the basic radar system created pulses and used the time interval between transmission
and reception to determine the targets range. If the energy is transmitted continuously then this
will not be possible. CW radar can measure the instantaneous rate-of-charge in the targets range.
This is accomplished by a direct measurement of the Doppler shift of the returned signal. The
Doppler shift is a change in the frequency of the electromagnetic wave caused by motion the
transmitter, target or both. For example, if the transmitter is moving, the wavelength is reduced
by a fraction proportional to the speed it is moving in the direction of propagation. Since the
speed of propagation is a constant, the frequency must increase as the wavelength shortens. The
net result is an upwards shift in the transmitted frequency, called the Doppler shift
Based on the radar mode of operation, it's divided into two groups:
Active systems:
Their sensors provide their own illumination and therefore contain a transmitter and receiver.
Those radars are usually used in imaging radar, scatterometers and altimeters. Moreover, most
radars use imaging systems where so often the antenna used for both transmission and reception
Passive systems:
They consist of receivers that measure the radiation emanating from an object such as microwave
radiometers
TARGET CHARACTERISTICS
There are several target characteristics which will enable one target to be detected at a greater
range than another, or for one target to produce a stronger echo than another target of similar
size.
Height
Since radar wave propagation is almost line of sight, the height of the target is of prime
importance. If the target does not rise above the radar horizon, the radar beam cannot be reflected
from the target. Because of the interference pattern, the target must rise somewhat above the
radar horizo n .
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Size
Up to certain limits, targets having larger reflecting areas will return stronger echoes than targets
having smaller reflecting areas. Should a target be wider than the horizontal beam width, the
strength of the echoes will not be increased on account of the greater width of the target because
the area not exposed to the radar beam at any instant cannot, of course, reflect an echo . Since the
vertical dimensions of most targets are small com -pared to the vertical beam width of marine
navigational radars, the beam width limitation is not normally applicable to the vertical
dimensions. However, there is a vertical dimension limitation in the case of sloping surfaces or
stepped surfaces. In this case, only the projected vertical area lying within the distance equivalent
of the pulse length can return echoes at any instant.
Aspect
The aspect of a target is its orientation to the axis of the radar beam. With change in aspect, the
effective reflecting area may change, depending upon the shape of the target. The nearer the
angle between the reflecting area and the beam axis is to 90, the greater is the strength of the
echo returned to the antenna.
Shape
Targets of identical shape may give echoes of varying strength, depending on aspect. Thus a flat
surface at right angles to the radar beam, such as the side of a steel ship or a steep cliff along the
shore, will reflect very strong echoes. As the aspect changes, this flat surface will tend to reflect
more of the energy of the beam away from the antenna, and may give rather weak echoes. A
concave surface will tend to focus the radar beam back to the antenna while a convex surface
will tend to scatter the energy. A smooth conical surface will not reflect energy back to the
antenna. However, echoes may be reflected to the antenna if the conical surface is rough.
Texture
The texture of the target may modify the effects of shape and aspect. A smooth texture tends to
increase the reflection qualities, and will increase the strength of the reflection, but unless the
aspect and shape of the target are such that the reflection is focused directly back to the antenna,
the smooth surface will give a poor radar echo because most of the energy is reflected in another
direction. On the other hand, a rough surface will tend to break up the reflection, and will
improve the strength of echoes returned from those targets whose shape and aspect normally give
weak echoes.
Composition
The ability of various substances to reflect radar pulses depends on the intrinsic electrical
properties of those substances. Thus metal and water are good reflectors. Ice is a fair reflector,
depending on aspect. Land areas vary in their reflection qualities depending on the amount and
type of vegetation and the rock and mineral content. Wood and fiber glass boats are poor
reflectors. It must be remembered that all of the characteristics interact with each other to
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determine the strength of the radar echo, and no factor can be singled out without considering the
effects of the others
SPOOFING A RADAR
Radar Jamming
High amount of RF energy is flooded in the Radar operating band. This causes signal to
noise ratio of the radar to go down.
Using Repeater Jammers
Radars operate on the time-of-flight principle of the received echo. Repeaters, for each
received pulse, sends back more than one pulse to cause the radar computer to calculate
the incorrect range. However, radars also use counter-measures like staggered PRF, Jitter
PRI, Stagger-Jitter patterns, etc.
Reducing RCS.
The magnitude of the reflected signal depends upon the RCS of the target. Hence, to
escape from enemy radar, the aircrafts use mechanisms to reduce the RCS. Some of the
methods are
(a) Shaping , i.e., no tilt angles, no sharp corners
(b) Use of radar absorbing materials
(c) Use of secondary scatterers for the purpose of cancellation.
RADAR FREQUENCIES
Most of the radars operate between 220 MHz to 35 GHz, but some special purpose radars
operate outside of this range, e.g.
a)
b)
c)
d)
Skywave HF-OTH (over the horizon) can operate as low as 4 MHz

Groundwave HF Radars operate as low as 2 MHz.
Millimeter radars operate up to 95 GHz, and
Laser radars (lidars) operate in IR and visible spectrum.
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Fig 11 : typical radar frequencies

Table1: radar frequency, bands and wavelengths and application
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Fig 12: generic radar block diagram
APPLICATIONS OF RADAR
General Applications
Ground-based radar is applied chiefly to the detection, location and tracking of aircraft of
space targets.
Shipborne radar is used as a navigation aid and safety device to locate buoys, shorelines
and other ships. It is also used to observe aircraft.
Spaceborne radar is used for the remote sensing of terrain and sea, and for
rendezvous/docking.
Airborne radar is used to detect aircraft, ships and land vehicles. It is also used for
mapping of terrain and avoidance of thunderstorms and terrain.
Major Applications
Air Traffic Control (ATC):Radar used to provide air traffic controllers with position and
other information on aircraft flying within their area of responsibility (airways and in the
vicinity of airports). The high resolution radar is used at large airports to monitor aircraft
and ground vehicles on the runways, taxiways and ramps. The GCA (ground controlled
approach) or PAR (precision approach radar) provides on operator with high accuracy
aircraft position information in both the vertical and horizontal. The operator uses this
information to guide the aircraft to a landing in bad weather. The MLS (microwave
landing system) and ATC radar beacon systems are based on radar technology.
Air Navigation: The weather avoidance radar is used on aircraft to detect and display
areas of heavy precipitation and turbulence. Low-flying military aircraft rely on terrain
avoidance and terrain following radars to avoid colliding with obstructions or high
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terrain. Military aircraft employ ground-mapping radars to image a scene. The radio
altimeter is also a radar used to indicate the height of an aircraft above the terrain and as a
part of self contained guidance system over land.
Ship Safety: There are one of the least expensive, most reliable and largest applications
of radar. Radar is found on ships and boats for collision avoidance and to observe
navigation buoys, especially when the visibility is poor. The automatic detection and
tracking equipments are available with these radars for collision avoidance. Similarly
shore based radars of moderate resolution are used from harbour surveilliance.
Space: Radars are used for rendezvous and dockign and was used for landing on the
moon. The large ground based radars are used for detection and tracking of satellites. The
satellite-borne radars used for remote sensing (SAR, Synthetic Aperture Radar).
Remote Sensing: All radars are remote sensors, and used for sensing geophysical objects
(the environment). The radar astronomy are used to probe the moon and planets. The
earth resources monitoring radars measure and map sea conditions, water resources, ice
cover, agricultural land use, forest conditions, geological formations, environmental
pollution (Synthetic Aperture Radar, SAR and Side Looking Airborne Radar, SLAR).
Law Enforcement: The radar speed meter, familiar to many, is used by police for
enforcing speed limits. Radar has been considered for making vehicles safer by warning
of ponding collision, actuating the air bag, or warning of obstructions or people behind a
vehicle or in the side blind zone. It is also employed for detection of intruders.
Military: Radar is an important part of air-defense systems as well as the operation of
offensive missiles and other weapons. In air defense it performs the functions of
surveillance and weapon control. Surveillance includes target detection, target
recognition, target tracking, and designation to a weapon system. Weapon-control radars
track targets, direct the weapon to an intercept, and assess the effectiveness of the
engagement (called battle damage assessment). A missile system might employ radar
methods for guidance and fuzing of the weapon. High resolution imaging radars, such as
synthetic aperture radar, have been used for reconnaissance purpose and for detecting
fixed and moving targets on the battle field
Conclusion
Radar is an acronym which stands for Radio Detection and Ranging and it is a system that
depends on electromagnetic waves to detect some physical properties such as presence, direction,
speed, distance or altitude of stationary or moving object
The main concept of radar relays on ECHO PRINCIPLE. Radar range equation is the basic
equation for determination of target distance. The basic radar components are transceiver,
duplexer and synchronizer which is assumed to be the heart of radar
22 | P a g e
References
http://www.radartutorial.eu.
http://www.wikipedia.net
D.L. Clark, Early Advances in Radar Technology for Aircraft Detection, in this issue.
K. Schaffel, The Emerging Shield: The Air Force and the Evolution of Continental Air
Defense, 19451960(Office of Air Force History, Washington, 1990).
Comparative Analysis of Radar and Sonar Principles
Principles of Modern Radar: Basic Principles by M.A. Richards, J.A. Scheer, W.A. Holm
SciTech Publishing, 2010, ISBN 1891121529
Introduction to Airborne Radar, Second Edition by G. Stimson SciTech Publishing, 1998,
ISBN 1891121014
23 | P a g e

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