The document discusses the radar equation and integration of radar signals. It defines radar cross section as the fictional area that would scatter the same amount of power as the target. It also discusses how scattering and diffraction are variations of the same physical process when an object interacts with an electromagnetic wave. Finally, it describes how practical integrators have memory loss over time, applying an exponential weighting to integrated pulses, resulting in the voltage being the sum of each pulse voltage exponentially decaying over time.
The document discusses the radar equation and integration of radar signals. It defines radar cross section as the fictional area that would scatter the same amount of power as the target. It also discusses how scattering and diffraction are variations of the same physical process when an object interacts with an electromagnetic wave. Finally, it describes how practical integrators have memory loss over time, applying an exponential weighting to integrated pulses, resulting in the voltage being the sum of each pulse voltage exponentially decaying over time.
The document discusses the radar equation and integration of radar signals. It defines radar cross section as the fictional area that would scatter the same amount of power as the target. It also discusses how scattering and diffraction are variations of the same physical process when an object interacts with an electromagnetic wave. Finally, it describes how practical integrators have memory loss over time, applying an exponential weighting to integrated pulses, resulting in the voltage being the sum of each pulse voltage exponentially decaying over time.
The document discusses the radar equation and integration of radar signals. It defines radar cross section as the fictional area that would scatter the same amount of power as the target. It also discusses how scattering and diffraction are variations of the same physical process when an object interacts with an electromagnetic wave. Finally, it describes how practical integrators have memory loss over time, applying an exponential weighting to integrated pulses, resulting in the voltage being the sum of each pulse voltage exponentially decaying over time.
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THE RADAR EQUATION
repeated for each value of y and n.' 3 This is not done here. Instead, for simplicity, an efficiency will be defined which is the ratio of the average signal-to-noise ratio for the exponential integrator to the average signal-to-noise ratio for the uniform integrator. For a dumped integrator, one which erases the contents of the integrator after n pulses and starts over, the efficiency is14 __unM«r/2) (2J5a) An example of an integrator that dumps is an electrostatic storage tube that is erased whenever it is read. The efficiency of an integrator that operates continuously without dumping is [ l - e xp ( - n y ) ] 2 '= « tnnh (,72)"" ( ]
The inaximum efficiency of a dumped integrator occurs fory = 0, but for a continuous integrator Ihe maximum efficiency occurs for i>y = 1.257. 2.7 RADAR CROSS SECTION OF TARGETS The radar cross section of a target is the (fictional) area intercepting that amount of power which, when scattered equally in all directions, produces an echo at the radar equal to that from Ihe target; or in other terms, power reflected toward source/unit solid angle = lim 4jrR2 (2.36) incident power density/4jr. where R = distance between radar and target £r = reflected field strength at radar E, = strength of incident field at target This equation is equivalent to the radar range equalion'of Sec. 1.2. For most common types of radar targets such as aircraft, ships, and terrain, the radar cross section does not necessarily bear a simple relationship to the physical area, except that the larger the target size, the larger the cross section is likely to be. Scattering and diffraction are variations of the same physical process.15 When an object scatters an electromagnetic wave, the scattered field is defined as the difference between the total field in the presence of the object and the field that would exist if the object were absent (but with the sources unchanged). On the other hand, the diffracted field is the total field in the presence of the object. With radar backscatter, the two fields are the same, and one may talk about scattering and diffraction interchangeably. In theory, the scattered field, and hence the radar cross section, can be determined by solving Maxwell's equations with the proper boundary conditions applied. 16 Unfortunately, the determination of the radar cross section with Maxwell's equations can be accomplished only for the most simple of shapes, and solutions valid over a large range of frequencies are not easy to obtain. The radar cross section of a simple sphere is shown in Fig. 2.9 as a function of its circumference measured in wavelengths (2na/A, where a is the radius of the sphere and X is the wavelength).17""34 The region where the size of the sphere is small compared with the wavelength (2na/A « 1) is called the Rayleigh region, after Lord Rayleigh who, in the early 1870s, first studied scattering by small particles. Lord Rayleigh was interested in the scattering of light by microscopic particles, rather than in radar. His work preceded the orginal electromagnetic echo experiments of Hertz by about fifteen years. The Rayleigh scattering region is of 32 INTRODUCTION TO RADAR SYSTEMS and probability of false alarm, or false-alarm number, since there is no standardisation of definitions. They all can give the correct values for use in the radar equation provided Ihe assumptions used by each author are vinderstood. The original false-alarm time of Marcum10 is different from that used in this text He defined it as the time in which the probability is 1/2 that a false alarm will not occur. A comparison of the two definitions is given by Hollis.'2 Marcutn's definition of false-alarm time is seldom used, although his definition of false-alarm number is often found. The solid straight line plotted in Fig. 2.8a represents a perfect predetection integrator with £,(n) = 1. It is hardly ever achieved in practice. When only a few pulses are integrated postdetection (large signal-to-noise ratio per pulse), Fig. 2.8n shows that the integration-improvement factor is not much different from a perfect predetection integrator. When a large number of pulses are integrated (small signal-to-noise ratio per pulse), Ihe difference between postdetection and predetection integration is more pronounced. The dashed straight line applies to an integration-improvement factor proportional lo n"2. As discussed in Sec. 10.6, data obtained during World War II seemed to indicate that this described the performance of an operator viewing a cathode-ray tube display. More recent experiments, however, show that the operator-integration performance when viewing a properly designed PPI or B-scope display is better represented by the theoretical postdelcc-tion integrator as given by Fig. 2.8, rather than by the n" 2 law. The radar equation with n pulses integrated can be written P,GAea where the parameters are the same as that of Eq. (2.7) except that (S/N), is the signal-lo-noise ratio of one of the n equal pulses that are integrated to produce the required probability of detection for a specified probability of false alarm.'To use this form of the radar equation it is necessary to have a set of curves like those of Fig. 2.7 for each vaiue of n. Such curves are available," but are not necessary since only Figs. 2.7 and 2.8 are needed. S ubstituting Eq. (2.31) into (2.32) gives R* PGAonEAn) The value of (S/JV), is found from Fig. 2.7 as before, and «£,(«) is found from Fig. 2.Ka. The post-detection integration loss described by Fig. 2.8 assumes a perfect integrator. Many practical integrators, however, have a " loss of memory " with time. That is, the amplitude of a signal stored in such an integrator decays, so that the stored pulses are not summed with equal weight as assumed above. Practical analog integrators such as the recirculating delay line (also called a feedback integrator), the low-pass filter, and the electronic storage tube apply what is equivalent to an exponential weighting to the integrated pulses; that is, if n pulses are integrated, the voltage out of the integrator is V~ £ V,exp[-(i- l)y] (2.3-4) i=i where Vt is the voltage amplitude of the ith pulse and exp ( — y) is the attenuation per pulse. In a recirculating delay-line integrator, e"» is the attenuation around the loop. In an RC low-pass filter y = TP/RC, where Tp is the pulse repetition period and RC is the filter time constant. In order to find the signal-to-noise ratio for a given probability of detection and probability of false alarm, an analysis similar to that used to obtain Figs. 2.7 and 2.8 should be
