KSIT, BANGALORE ——-YEARISEM: VII/VII1_ Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering LRA K S INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING SUBJECT — RADAR ENGINEERING MODULE -—4 NOTES Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT. [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE ——-YEAR/SEM: VIUVIII Subject code/Tit |SECH23/Radar engineering TRACKING RADAR Types of Tracking Radar System > This far we have considered radar mainly as a surveillance sensor that detects targets over a region of space. > A radar not only recognizes the presence of a target but it determines the target's location in range and in one or two angle coordinates, > As it continues to observe a target over time, the radar can provide the target's trajectory, or track, and predict where it will be in the future. > There are at least four types of radars that can provide the tracks of targets: Single - target tracker (STT), Automatic detection and track (ADT), Phased array radar tracking, Track Write Scan(TWS). 1) Single - target tracker (STT): > This tracker is designed to continuously track a single target at a relatively rapid data rate. > The data rate is dependent on the application, but 10 observations per second might be “typical” of a military guided missile weapon - control radar. > The antenna beam of a single - target tracker follows the target by obtaining an angle error signal and employing a closed- loop servo system to keep the error signal small.(i.e. A small angle error signal means that the radar is accurately tracking the target). > The major application for continuous tracking radars is for tracking aircrafts or missile target in support of military weapon control system. > The C-band AN/FPQ-6 is an example of a long-range precision tracking radar that was used at missile instrumentation ranges. 2) Automatic detection and track (ADT): > This performs tracking as part of an air surveillance radar it is found in almost all modern civil air-traffic control radars as well as military air surveillance radars. > The rate at which observations are dependent on the time for the antenna to make one rotation (which might vary from a few seconds to as much as 12 seconds). > The ADT, therefore, has a lower data rate than that of the STT, but its advantage is that it can simultaneously track a large number of targets(which might be many hundreds or a few thousands of aircraft). > Tracking is done open loop in that the antenna position is not controlled by the processed tracking data as it is in the ST. MrSaleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE YEARUSEM: VIN/VIII Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering 3) Phased array radar tracking: > A large number of targets can be held in track with a high data rate by an electronically steered phased array radar, Multiple targets are tracked on a time-shared basis under computer control since the beam of an electronically scanned array can be rapidly switched from one angular direction to another, sometimes in a few microseconds. It combines the rapid update rate of a single target tracker with the ability of the ADT to hold many targets in track. This is the basis for such air-defense weapon systems as Aegis and Patriot. An example of a phased array for multiple-target tracking is the C-band multiple-target tracking range instrumentation radar called MOTR. 4) Track Write Scan (TWS): » This radar rapidly scans a limited angular sector to maintain tracks, with a moderate data rate, on more than one target within the coverage of the antenna. > It has been used in the past for air-defense radars, aircraft tanding radars, and in some airbome intercept radars to hold multiple targets in track. Note: A radar can track targets in range as well as angle, Sometimes tracking of the doppler frequency shift, or the radial velocity, is also performed. However we will be discussing angle tracking. Angle-Tracking: > Angle-Tracking in a Simple pencil-beam radar the detection of a target provides its location in angle as being somewhere within the antenna beamwidth, but more information is. needed to determine the direction the antenna should be moved to maintain the target within its beam. Consider the angle measurement in a single angular coordinate. In order to determine the direction in which the antenna beam needs to be moved, a measurement has to be made at two different beam positions. Below figure shows the two beam positions A and B at two different angles. The two beams are said to be squinted, with a squint angle +£0q relative to the boresight direction. These may be two simultaneous beams, or one beam that is rapidly switched between the two angular positions, > The crossover of the two beams determines the boresight direction. Mr.Saleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT,BANGALORE ——-YEARISEM: VII/VIIL__ Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering The tracking radar has to position the two beams so that the boresight is always maintained in the direction of the target, that is angle @o is in the direction of the target angle 67. > In this example, the relative amplitudes a, and ay of the echo signals received from a target measured in the two positions determine how far the target is from boresight and in what direction the two beams have to be repositioned to maintain the target on boresight. This applies for one angle coordinate. Two additional beam positions are needed in the orthogonal plane to obtain angle tracking in orthogonal angle coordinate. Boresight, Target direction Fig 1 Basic principle of continuous angle tracking. (a) Two overlapping antenna pattems that cross over at the boresight direction 8o. A target is located in this example to the right of the boresight at the angle 67. The amplitude ag of the target echo in beam B is larger than the amplitude a, in beam A, which indicates that the two beams should be moved to the right to bring the target to the boresight position. (b) Boresight position 0 is shown located in the direction of the target 87 when aq= ap, > Three beam positions are the minimum needed to obtain an angle measurement in two coordinates but almost always four beams have to be used. > Early tracking radars used a single time-shared beam to track in two angles, These trackers which time share a single beam are known as either conical scan or sequential lobing trackers. > Moder high precision tracking radars, however, use the equivalent of 4 simultaneous MrSaleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BAN ANGALORE —-YEARISEM: VILIVI Subject code/Title: 1SEC823/Radar engineering beams to perform two trackers, of which the mo: dimensional tracking, th a ey are called simultaneous lobing st popular is monopulse. Monopulse Traking: > A monopulse tracker is defin > A measurement of angle may be made on the basis of single pulse, hence the name monopulse, 5 z 3 £ 5 8 g ¢ s of detection, improve the accura doppler when necessary. By making an angle measurement based more than one antenna beam, the accurac v on the signals that appear simultaneously in y it improved compared to time-shared single beam tracking systems(such as conical scan or sequential lobing) which . suffer degradation when the echo signal amplitude changes with time. > Thus the accuracy of the monopulse i is not affected by amplitude fluctuations of the target echo, it is the preferred tracking technique when accurate angle measurement are required. v ‘The monopulse angle method may be used in a tracking radar to develop an angle error Signal in two orthogonal angle coordinates that mechanically drive the boresight of the tracking antenna using a closed loop servo system to keep the boresight positioned in the direction of the moving target, Im radars such as the phased array, angle measurements can be obtained in an open- loop fashion by calibrating the error-signal voltage in terms of angle. ‘There are several methods by which a monopulse angle measurement can be made. The most popular by far has been the amplitude-comparison monopulse which Compares the amplitudes of the signals simultaneously received in multiple squinted beams to determine the angle. When the term monopulse is used by itself with no other description it generally refers to the amplitude comparision version. v vv Amplitude Composition monopulse: > For simplicity this form of monopulse is first described for the measurement of only one angle coordinate, > Two overlapping antenna patterns with their main beams pointed in slightly different directions are used as shown in figure 2a. > The two beams in this figure are said to be squinted, or offset they might be generated MrSaleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerViti Subject codeTitle: 18EC823/Radar engineering KSIT, BANGALORE = YEAR/SEM: by using two feeds slightly displaced in opposite directions from the focus at the parabolic reflector. > The Essence of the amplitude comparis and difference of the two squinted antenna patterns, wl 2c, > The sum pattern is employed on transmission, pattems are used on reception. > The signal received with the difference pattern provides the magnitude of the angle error. > The direction of the angle error is found by comparing the phase of the difference signal with the phase of the sum signal. > The signals received from the sum and difference patterns are amplified separately and combined in a phase sensitive detector to produce the angle - error signal, figure 2d. > The sum signal also provides target detection and range measurement, as well as act as areference for determining the sign of the angle measurement. on monopulse method is taking both the sum hich are shown in figure 2b and while both the sum and the difference ae a us a to) @ ao z u * a . Tae oy ) Fig2 Monopulse antenna patterns and error signal. The left hand sketches in (a) to (c) are in polar coordinates; right-hand sketches are in rectangular coordinates. (a) Two squinted antenna beams; (b) sum pattern of two squinted beams shown in (a); (c) difference pattern; (d) error signal as a function of the angle from boresight. MrSaleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT.BANGALORE —YEAIVSEM: VIUVIII Subject coderTitte 18EC823/Radar engineering Simple Block diagram of the amplitude comparision monopulse in one angle coordinde, Y, denotes the sum channel. > Simple block diagram of the amplitude comparision monopulse tracking radar for a single angular coordinate is shown in below figure. > The two adjacent antenna feeds are connected to the two in, junction, which is a four-port microwave device with two i/p an When two signals (such as the signals from the two squinted b two i/p ports, the sum and difference of the two are found at the two o/p ports. On reception, the o/p of the sum and difference channels Ports are each hetrodyned to an intermediate frequency and amplified in the superheterodyne receiver, It is important that the sum and difference channels have the same phase and amplitude characteristics. For this reason, a single local oscillator (LO) is shared by the two channels. The transmitter is connected to the sum port of the hybrid junction. A duplexer (TR) is included in the sum channel for the protection of the sum channel receiver, A duplexer is often inserted in the difference channel so as to maintain the phase and amplitude balance of the two channels, although it is not needed for protection of the difference-channel receiver. Automatic gain control is also used to help maintain balance. The outputs of the sum and difference channels are the inputs to the phase-sensitive detector, which is a nonlinear device that compares two signals of same frequency. put arms of a hybrid \d two o/p ports. eams) are inserted at the > v vv v v vv ‘Transmitter ‘Sum channel ™ Mixer IF Amplimde Range amplifier detector signal Phase- Angle— junction Lo sensitive L—» error Tr detector signal ; IF Miter = sastier Difference channel Fig 3 Simple block diagram of the amplitude comparison monopulse in one angle coordinate denotes the sum channel A denotes the difference channel. Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE YEARVSEM: VIN/VII Subject code/Titl: 18EC823/Radar engineering v In this case two signals are those of the sum and difference channels. The output of phase sensitive detector is the angle error signal. Its magnitude is proportional to | @T -@ol, where, @T = target angle and 80 = boresight angle or crossover angle. ‘The sign of the output of the phase sensitive detector indicates the direction of the angle error relative to the boresight. If the sum signal in the IF portion of the receiver is Ajcoswpt, the difference signal will be either *Aqcoswet or —Agcoswpt depending on which side of boresight is the target.(In the above A>0 and Ap>0). Since —A,coswst = Agcoswr(t+n),the sign of the difference signal may be found with the phase sensitive detector by determining whether the difference signal is in phase with the sum signal or 180° out of phase, that is whether the o/p phase is 0 or 7 radians. Although a phase comparison is part of the amplitude-comparison monopulse radar, the magnitude of the angle-error signal is determined by comparing the echo-signal amplitudes received with simultaneous squinted beams. The separation of the two antenna feeds is small so that the phases of the signals in the two beams are almost equal when the target angle is not far from boresight. v v v v v v Hybrid Junctions > The hybrid junction is a four-port device that provides at its two output ports the sum and difference of the signals that are at its two input ports, > For monopulse radar, they are usually constructed from waveguide; but they can also be in coax or stripline. Magic-T Hybrid Junction > The hybrid junction known as the magic-T, sketched in Fig 4a, consists of an E-plane ‘T-junction (shown vertical) and an H-plane ‘T-junction (shown horizontal) arranged as indicated. > A signal, whose E-field (electric field) is indicated by the solid arrow, is shown as the input at port 1, It is divided equally in power and appears with the same phase at both ports 3 and 4. Nothing will appear at port 2, >A signal whose E-field is indicated by the dashed arrow is the input at port 2. It is divided equally between ports 3 and 4, arid no energy appears at port 1. > The nature of the E-plane junction is such as to make the two signals at ports 2 and 3 out of phase by 180°, as is indicated by the dashed arrows being reversed in direction. MrSaleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScanner/ KSIT, BANGALORE —-YEAR/SEM: VI/VII__ Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering > Thus the output of port 4 is the difference of the signals at ports 1 and 2; and the output of port 3 is the sum of ports 1 and 2 the magic-T is inherently a broadband device. > As shown, it is bulky, but its arms can be folded to make it more compact without changing its electrical characteristics. > Folding means niaking arms 3 and 4 to be parallel to arm 2 (by folding either up or down) or they may be folded forward to be parallel to arm 1. The Rat-race, or hybrid-ring junction > Rat-race, or hybrid-ring junction is shown in Fig 4b. Ports 1 and 2 are the two inputs. > A signal at port 1 can reach port 4 by two separate paths, one clock wise and the other counterclockwise. The two paths are of the same length (3/4 wave length), so they reinforce and a signal will appear at this output port. The signal input at port 1 also reaches port 3 by two paths-one which travels 5/4 wavelength and the other 1/4 wavelength. > They are also in phase, so a signal will appear at port 3 from port 1. At port 2, however, the two signals from port 1 are 180° out of phase (the clockwise signal travels one wavelength and the counterclockwise signal travels one-half wavelength). > Thus a signal that is input at port 1 will be divided equally and appear at ports 3 and 4, but not appear at 2. Similarly, a signal input at port 2 will appear at ports 3 and 4 and not at port 1. > At port 4, however, the signal from port 2 can be seen to be 180° out of phase with the signal that arrives there from port 1. > Thus the output of port 4 is the difference of the input signals at ports 1 and 2, and port 3 is the sum of the signals at ports 1 and 2. Since the operation of this device depends on the lengths between ports being some fraction of a wavelength, it will be frequency sensitive and not as broadband as the magic-T. v Vv The 3-dB directional coupler > The 3-dB directional coupler is a relatively compact form of hybrid junction that can also be used to obtain the sum and difference signals for monopulse. > One method of obtaining a 3-dB directional coupler is to align two rectangular waveguides with their narrow walls touching, as shown in Fig. 4 c. > Microwave energy from one of the waveguides is coupled to the other by means of appropriate holes or slots between the two waveguides. > Because of the quarter-wave spacing between the two coupling holes shown in the figure, this configuration is a frequency-sensitive device. > But by employing more than two coupling holes or by using slots instead of holes, it can be made to operate over a useful frequency band, (In the configuration of Fig. 4.5c, Mr.Saleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE YEAR/SEM: VII/VII_ Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering a 90° phase shift has to be inserted in either port 1 or 2 in order to provide the sum and difference at the other two.) @ Figure 4 Examples of hybrid junctions as might be used in monopulse radar. (a) Magic-T; (b) rat-race, or hybrid-ring junction; (¢) 3-dB directional coupler obtained by use of two rectangular waveguides with narrow walls touching and with quarter-wavelength spacing between the two coupling holes. Block Diagram of two Coordinate/Model amplitude comparison monopulse radar with the help of neat block diagram for extracting error signals in both azimuth and elevation (two coordinate system). > A block diagram of a monopulse radar with provision for extracting error signals in both elevation and azimuth is shown in below figure. > The cluster of four feeds homs generate four partial overlapping (squinted) antenna beams. Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE ——-YEAR/SEM: VII/VIII__ Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering v| vv vv v vv v v The four feeds might be used to illuminate a parabolic reflector, Cassegrain reflector, or a space fed phased array antenna. The arrangement of the four feeds is shown in the upper left-hand portion of the figure. All the four feeds generate the sum pattern, the difference pattern in one plane is formed by taking the sum of two adjacent feeds and subtracting this from the sum of the other two adjacent feeds. ‘The difference pattern in the orthogonal plane is obtained by adding the differences of the orthogonal adjacent pairs.(For example, based on the arrangement of the feeds shown in Fig 5 the sum pattem is found from A+B+C+D; the azimuth difference pattem is obtained from (A + B) - (C+ D); and the elevation difference pattern is (B+ D)-(A+C).) ‘A total of four hybrid junctions generate the sum channels, the azimuth difference channel, and elevation difference channel. ‘Three separate mixers and IF amplifiers are shown, one for each channel. All three mixers operate from a single local oscillator in order to maintain the phase relationships between the three channels. Two phase-sensitive detectors extract the angle-error information, one for azimuth, the other for elevation. Range information is extracted from the output of the sum channel after envelope detection. Since a phase comparision is made between the output of the sum channel and each of the difference channel, it is important that the phase shifts introduced by each of the channels be almost identical and must be maintained to within 25° or better for reasonably proper performance. The gains of the channels also must not differ by more than specified amounts. Automatic Gain Control (AGC) AGC is required in the receiving system in order to maintain a stable closed-loop servo'system for angle tracking and to insure that the angle-error signal is not affected by changes in the received signal amplitude. As indicated in the block diagram, the AGC signal is obtained from the peak voltage of i sum channel and generates a negative dc voltage proportional to the peak signal voltage. The AGC signal from the sum channel is fed back to control the gain of all three channels so as to-provide a constant angle sensitivity independent of changes in target cross-section fluctuations or changes in range. Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScanneritle: adar engineeri KSIT, BANGALORE _-YEAR/SEM: VII/VII Subject code/Title: 18EC823/R: gineering Range ED tracker late Video 11 Range Sum channel smplifier Feed Figure 5 Block diagram of two coo rdinate(azimuth and elevation) amplitude comparision monopulse tracking radar. Diagram in the upper left comer represents the four-horn feed, Antennas for Monopulse > The assemblage of hybrid junctions, waveguides, and other microwave components needed to extract the sum and difference signals in a monopulse radar is called a comparator. The comparator circuitry of the early monopulse radars was quite large and bulky. If it were placed at the feed of a paraboli i > It in high sidelobes and reduced angle accuracy. For this reason, the original amplitude-comparison monopulse radar that was developed by the Naval Research Laboratory employed a metal-plate lene antenna. A lens does not cause aperture blocking, but it experiences greater Ines than does a reflector antenna because there will be unwanted reflections from both the input surface and the output surface of the lens, : With advances in microwave hardware technology, Was reduced and the AN/FPS-16 precision tracking was able to use a reflector antenna parabolic reflector. ‘The four waveguide transmission lines to the four feeds at the focus were made of Invar to reduce the adverse effects of temperature differences that might be experienced by the waveguides. The introduction of the Cassegrain reflector antenna (also_in the late 1950s) allowed the microwave circuitry to be placed behind the the size of the comparator citcuitry radar (introduced in the late 1950s) with the microwave circuitry at the focus of the Mr.Saleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE - Yearisen: VIVIIE Subject codesTith 18EC823/Radar engineering Parabolic reflector at its apex without aggravating the antenna blockage problem, > Also, the feed system at the apex is easier to support mechanically than if it had to be placed in front of the reflector at the focus, > Almost all continuous tracking precision monopi n ulse radars employ the Cassegrain antenna. The monopulse principle can also be used with phased array antennas, Optimum Squint Angle > The greater the squint angle, the greater will be the slope of the angle- boresight and the better will be the accuracy of the angle measurement. As the squint angle increases, however, the on-axis gain of the sum pattern decreases, Thus there will be an optimum value of the squint angle. > Figure 6 plots the slope of the error signal as a function of the squint angle @q > Assuming the shape of the squinted beams can be modeled by a gaussian function and that mutual coupling between the feeds can be ignored, > The signal received in the sum channel is Proportional to the square of the sum pattern (the sum pattern on transmit times the sum pattern on receive), and the signal in the difference channel is Proportional to the product of the sum and the difference patterns, The error signal is the output of the phase-sensitive detector. The optimum squint angle is found to be 8q = 0.310 6B , where OB is the half-power beamwidth of the squinted beams. This corresponds to a crossover 1.2 dB down from the peak, >A different optimum squint angle, based on a different criterion, is given by both Rhodes and Sherman as 0.46 9B, which corresponds to.a crossover 2.6 dB down from the peak. Berger has pointed out that the analysis of Rhodes (as well as Sherman) which gives a greater optimum squint angle applies for one-way beacon tracking (instead of two-way radar tracking) since it assumes a one-way signal is being tracked, but the curve in Fig 6 is based on two-way radar tracking, 50 error signal’at v vv & px slope of eror-signal voltage 58 ‘Squint angle 0/85 fies a3 ax as | as ee ‘Beam crossover. B Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT. [email protected] Scanned with CamScanner1: 1BEC823/Radar engineering subject code/Tit KSIT, BANGALORE YEAR/SEM: VIVVIII_ Subject nical-scan tracking rates 08>] Figure 6 Slope of the angle error signal at crossover for monopulse and co} half-power beamwidth , 64, = squint angle. Monopulse Antenna Feed Systems rs also can be examined on the i i id difference patter 7 > The question of optimum sum ani P her than the concept of optimum basis of optimum antenna aperture illuminations ratl squint angle. > The desired illumination of the antenna has to be convenient to implement and produce low antenna sidelobes. . > The sum and difference patterns for a reflector or lens antenna are determined by the system of feeds that are used. The original four-horn feed system is the simplest to consider, but it cannot provide a difference pattern and a sum pattem that are independently optimized, > The sum pattern should have maximum gain on axis, which requires a uniform aperture illumination. > The difference pattem should have an aperture illumination that results in a large slope of the error signal at the beam crossover. > Also, the antenna patterns should have low sidelobes and be able to maintain their favorable characteristics over a wide bandwidth. If circular polarization is needed, the demands on the feed system are further increased and often some compromise in performance must be accepted. > An improvement over the original four-horn monopulse system is shown in Fig, 7. > This has been approximated in some precision tracking radars with a five-horn feed consisting of one horn generating the sum pattern surrounded by four horns generating the difference pattems, The arrangement of Fig. 4.8 more suitable for monopulse tracking than the original four-horn feed as the size of the feed system generating the difference pattern should be about twice that of the feed generating the sum patter. > This is approximately true of the feed of Fig. 4.8. Another approximation to the ideal is a 12-hom feed, but it is relatively large and complex. Simpler and more compact feed systems: can be obtained by using higher-order waveguide modes to obtain independent control of the sum and difference patterns. These are called multimode feeds. Mr.Saleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGAL( E ORE YEARSEM: VIVIIL ‘Subject code/Title: 18£C823/Radar engineering Se Elevati difference Sum Azimuth difference Figure 7 Approximately "ideal" feed illumination for monopulse sum and difference channels > For circular polarization, a five-horn feed system can be obtained so that the antenna can be switched to operate with either horizontal, vertical, or circular polarization. > This feed does not provide optimum sum and difference patterns; but it is a practical compromise between complexity and efficiency in obtaining circular polarization for monopulse trackers. > Ina radar with dual-polarization monopulse tracking, insufficient isolation between the polarizations can degrade the angle accuracy due to crosstalk from cross polarized target scattering. Phased Array Monopulse Difference Patterns > Ifmonopulse angle measurement is required with a phased array antenna, it is possible to independently control the sum and the difference patterns by means of separate beam-forming systems for the phased array. > The sum pattern may be chosen for maximum gain and low sidelobes, and the difference pattern for good angle accuracy and low sidelobes. Two Channel and One-Channel Monopulse > Three channels, or three receivers, are 16-20 required to obtain monopulse angle Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScanner18£C823/Radar engineering KSIT,BANGALORE — YEARSEM: VII/VIII__ Subject code/Ti tracking in two orthogonal angle coordinates. intained among the three receivers. To > Good phase and amplitude balance must be maintaine Seacene Rater ace simplify this problem monopulse radars that need only two o: considered in the past. reed > Systems with less than three receivers that process two or even three of my ane ue a channels on a shared basis were conceived when receiver hardware was larg technology was based on vacuum tubes. ; Over the years, improved technology has allowed better and smaller receivers i that the need for compromising the performance of a monopulse radar by employing fewer than three receiving channels has become less important. Gonopuise > This is another attempt to obtain th channels rather than three. Mor Russians employs two simult from the antenna axis. > The pair are mechanically rotated around the boresight axis, ‘The two beams are similar to those of a single angle-coordinate amplitude-comparison monopulse; but their rotation allows the angle measurement in the two orthogonal coordinates to be obtained by time sharing a single channel. > The sum and difference of the two conventional ménopulse radar. ® Since it provides measurement of angle with’ simultaneous bears, the accuracy of monopulse is not degraded by am plitude fluctuations of the target as happens with conventional conical scan radars, > A single-pulse measurement is not obtained as in a true monopulse, so it has a lower angular data rate than can be obtained with a three-receiver system. > Although two receivers ate used in feonopulse rather than three, it has the disadvantage of requiring the two beams to be rotated mechanically. This can be difficult especially when the polarization has to be maintained constant on rotation. As with other one- and two-receiver Sronopulse systems, time and the advancement of technology have made monopulse almost obsolete. ¢ benefits of monopulse, but with only two nopulse, also called scan with compensation by the ‘aneous beams that are squinted in. opposite directions quinted beams are processed similar to a Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE ——-YEARVSEM: VIII Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering Phase Comparision Monopulse: << —<— bp (o) 8 +r rorarget— \ a 4 4 o dsin® (b) Figure 8 Phase comparison monopulse in one angle coordinate. (a) Two antennas radiating identical beams in the same direction; (b) geometry of the signals at the two antennas of (a) when received from a target at an angle 6, measured with respect to the perpendicular to the baseline of the two radiators. > In phase comparison monopulse, two antenna beams are used to obtain an angle measurement in one coordinate, just as in amplitude-comparison monopulse. > The two beams, however, look in the same direction and cover the same region of space rather than be squinted to look in two slightly different directions, » Figure 8(a), rather than using two feeds at the focus of a single antenna as is the case for an amplitude comparison monopulse. The amplitudes of the signals are the same but their phases are different. > Consider two antennas spaced at a distance d apart as in figure 8b,if the signal arrives Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT. [email protected] Scanned with CamScanneritle: \dar engineering KSIT, BANGALORE = YEAR/SEM: VII/VIII_ Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engi Fi i in the si, from a direction @ w.r.t the normal to the base line, the phase difference znals] Teceived in the two autennas is d Ad= any sin@ Where A= wavelen: igth, A measurement of the phase difference of the signals received in the two antennas can Provide the angle @ to the target. > The phase comparison monopulse is sometimes known as an interferometer radar. > Four reflector antennas Were used arranged in two rows of two columns. > One of the antennas might be used as transmitter, it also provider range information on reception. > The other three antennas are used as receivers to obtain the azimuth and elevation angle, > The upper right and the low elevation which gives the elev: > The lower left and the lower >A disadvantage of this meth fourth of the available ante is used on receive to obtain > Thus, the gain and effectiy er right antennas mi; ation angle, right might obtain the azimuth angle, ‘od of obtaining the two angle coordinates is that only one- nna area is used for transmitting and only one-half the area each angle coordinate. € area of a phase-comparison monopulse operating in this manner is less efficient thar n if the same total antenna area had been used for amplitude- comparison monopulse that generates sum and difference beams, > Angle information can also be extracted employing sum and difference pattems and described for the amplitude-comparison metho | > The full antenna aperture area can then be phase-measurement method described above, > An analysis of the sum and difference Patterns for pl that a 90° phase shift has to be introduced in the di the phase sensitive detector is an error signal whos: of the angle of arrival from the target measured wit two antennas > One of the limitations of to the separation d of the ight obtain the phase difference in ina phase-comparison monopulse by Processing the signals similar to that utilized which isan advantage over the hase-comparison monopulse shows ifference signal so that the output of ¢ amplitude is a function of the sine th respect to the perpendicular to the phase- Comparison monopulse the effect of grating lobes due two antennas each of dimension d. MrSaleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BAI f NGALORE YEARVSEM: VIN/VIII Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering CONICAL SCAN AND SEQUENTIAL LOBING Sequential Lobing > The first U.S, Army angle-tracking air-defense radar in the 1930s (SCR-268) switched a single beam between two squinted angular positions to obtain an angle measurement. This is called lobe switching, sequential switching, or sequential lobing. > Figure 9a is a polar representation of the antenna beam in the two switched positions. ‘The same in rectangular coordinates is in Fig. 9b. > The error signal obtained from a target not located on the switching axis (boresight) is shown in Fig. 9c. The difference in amplitude between the voltages obtained in the two switched positions is a measure of the angular displacement of the target from the switching axis. . > The direction in which to move the beam to bring the target on boresight is found by observing which beam position has the larger signal. When the echo signals in the two beam positions are equal, the target is on axis and its direction is that of the switching axis. > Two additional switching positions are needed to obtain the angle measurement in the orthogonal coordinate. Thus a two-dimensional sequentially lobing radar might consist of a cluster of four feed horns illuminating a single reflector antenna, arranged so that the right-left, up-down sectors are covered by successive antenna positions. > A cluster of five feed horns might also be used, with a central feed used for transmission and four outer feeds used for reception on a sequential basis. > Ina sequential lobing system, a pulse might be transmitted and received when the beam is squinted to the right, again when the beam is squinted up, when the beam is squinted to the left, and when the bean is squinted down. > Thus the beam might be switched right, up, left, down, right, and so forth. v Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected]. Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE - YEARUSEM: VII/VIII Subject code/Title: TRECHA Sadar enginesetyy error signal. > After living with this type of scanning for a while it must have become obvious that the four homs and RF switches could be replaced by a single feed that radiated a single beam squinted off axis. The squinted feed could then be conti inuously rotated to obtain angle measurements in two coordinates. This is a conical scan radar, Conical Scan: Figure 10 Conical scan tracking Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE —YEAR/SEM: VIUVIN Subject code/Tile: 19EC823/Radar engineering The basic concept of conical Stan, or con- scan, is shown in figure above. The angle between the axis of rotation and the axis of the antenna beam is the squint angle. Consider the target located at position A, because of the rotation of beam the squinted beam and the target’s offset from the rotation axis. The amplitude of the echo signal will be modulated at frequency equal to the beams rotation frequency (also called conical scan frequency). The amplitude of the modulation depends on the angular distance between the target direction and the rotation axis. The location of the target in two angle co-ordinates determines the phase of the conical ~ scan modulating relative to the conical scan beam rotation. The conical scan modulation is extracted from the echo signal and applied to a servo contol system that continually positions the antenna rotation axis in the direction of the target. It does this by moving the antenna so that the target line of sight lies along the.beam rotation axis, as at position B. Two servos are required, one for azimuth and the other for elevation. When the antenna is "on target”, the conical - scan modulation is of zero amplitude. vovyv Block Diagram of Conical Scan Tracking Radar = To rotary joint Receiver ofr with teat Range gate Ref. sin 2nfyt cos I]t Elevation : Seno eb] Elevation-angle Elevation | amplifier error detector Sean’ ‘motor —— ‘motor : ; “Azimuth moe Azirouth-angle ‘Azimuth: amplifier error detector Figure 11 Block Diagram of Conical Scan Tracking Radar Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScanner‘Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering KSIT,BANGALORE —- YEARVSEM: VII/VI i i itioned in both azimuth and) > The antenna is mounted so that it can be mechanically positioned in bo ind elevation by Separate motors. : . : > The parabolie-antenna feed can be a rear-feed design for mechanical convenience. » The antenna beam is squinted by displacing the feed slightly off the focus of the parabola, i coe . > The parabolic antenna feed in designed to maintain the plane of polarization as it Totates about the axis, it is called nutating feed. . > A rotating feed in one which causes the plane of polarization to rotate, > The nutating feed is preferred over the rotating feed since a rotating Polarization can cause the amplitude of the target echo signal to change with time even for a stationary target on-axis. > A change in amplitude caused by a modulated echo signal can result in degraded angle- tracking accuracy. The nutating feed is usually more complicated of either a rotary joint or a flexible RF joint for the nutating feed, > Atypical Conical scan rotating speed might be in vicinity of 30 rev/s. > The same motor that Provides the conical-scan rotation of the antenna beam also drives a two-phase reference generator with electrical outputs at the conical scan frequently that are 90° apart in phase. > These two outputs serve as refere as shown in Fig 11 > The received echo signal is fed to the receiver from the antenna throu one rotary joint permits motion in azimuth and other in elevation, » The receiver is a superheterodyne except for the features related to conical scan tracking. > The error signal is extracted in the video after the second detector. > Range gating eliminates noise and excludes all targets other than the desired target. > The error signal from the range gate is compared with both the elevation and azimuth reference signals in the angle error detectors which are phase-sensitive detectors » The video signal is pulse-train modulated by the conical scan frequency shown in figure 12a nce signals to extract the elevation and azimuth errors igh 2 rotary joints, the pulses before low-pass filtering so as to increase luency and to perform analog to digital conversion complished by a sample and hold circuit, which has been known in the past as boxcar generator. > The pulse repetition frequency must be sufficiently large compared with the conical Scan [requency for proper filtering and avoiding inaccuracy of the angle measurement > There must be at least four pulses during each revolution of the conical scanning beam (so_as to obtain up-down and right-left comparisons). Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE ——-YEARVSEM: VIVVIII Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering > The prf, therefore, must be at least four times that of the conical-scan frequency; but it is preferable that it be more than 10 times greater. aK am (a) ih {bh Figure 12 (a) Pulse-train with conical-sean modulation; (b) same pulse-train after stretching by a sample- and-hold circuit. Automatic Gain Control > Ithas the purpose of maintaining constant angle - error sensitivity in spite of amplitude fluctuations or changes of the echo signal due to changes in range. rovide stable tracking. > Constant angle-error sensitivity is required to p1 > AGC is also important for avoiding saturation by large signals which could cause the Joss of the scanning modulation and the accompanying error signal. . > It also attempts to smooth or eliminate as much of the noiselike amplitude of the target echo signal as is practical without disturbing the extraction of the desired echo signal at the conical-scan frequency. > The gain of the AGC loop at the conical-scan frequency should be low so that the error signal will not be suppressed by the AGC action. > The required dynamic range for the AGC will depend on the variation in range over which targets are tracked the variation expected in the target cross section, For example, the range variation were 10 to 1, its contribution to the required Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT,BANGALORE ——- YEAR/SEM: VII/VIII_ Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering i vould be 40 dB. The target cross section might contribute another pee eonaaie 10 dB might be allowed to account for other variations in the parameters of the radar equation, Hence, the dynamic range in this example that is required for operation of the receiver AGC might be of thé order of 90 dB. In practice, a large dynamic range cannot be obtained with only one stage of AGC. Optimum Squint Angle > The greater the Squint angle in the conical scan tracker the greater will be the slope of the error signal around boresight and the more accurate will be the angle measurement. > The maximum slope occurs at a squint angle equal to 0.41 of the half-power beamwidth. > A Squint angle of 0.416B correspoi down from the peak. This means that when a conical S less than if the target were viewe nds to a point on the antenna Pattern of about 2 db v ‘can radar has a target in track, the echo signal is 4dB -d the peak of antenna called the crossover loss, Vv > 8 8 8 2 & zB B g g a F Bs conical-scan tracker, In a conical-scan tracker a compromise is often made between the accuracy by selecting a smaller squint angle than that which produces crror-signal slope. A compromise value might be 6q/8B= a point on the antenna pattern about 1.0 dB below the antenna gain is 2.0 dB instead of 4.0 dB, which makes but lower ac curacy angle tracking. If the radar is used t path rather than the two-way path of the radar " are larger. v range and angle maximum angle 0.28, which corresponds to peak. The two-way loss in More accurate range tracking 0 track a beacon on a one-way ‘skin echo." the optimum squint angles Scan on Receive Only > Scan on Receive Only Military conical-scan and lobe-switching tracking radars are especially vulnerable to electronic countermeasures (ECM) since it is easy for a hostile intercept receiver to detect and determine the conical-scanning frequency. » With such knowledge, a hostile ECM jammer can cause a conical-scan radar to cease tracking a target (called break-lock) by retransmitting the received radar signal with an amplitude modulation that is the inverse of the conical-scan fiequency. > This produces a return signal that is out of phase with the signal which would have Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE YEAR/SEM: VIIVIT Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering ee from the skin-echo of the target, and break-lock might occur. This type Countermeasure is called inverse gain and can degrade conical-scan or lobe- switching tracking systems. To Prevent the hostile ECM jammer from detecting a conical-scan frequency, a tracking radar can operate a with a non-scanning transmitting beam to illuminate the target and apply conical scanning or lobe switching only on receive. > This is called COSRO, which stands for conical scan or receive only. The analogous operation with sequential lobing is called LORO or lobe on receive only. Tracking in Range Manual tracking has many limitations and it cannot be used in systems such as missiles where there is no operator present. It was soon replaced by closed loop automatic tracking, such as the Split gate tracker. Split-Gate Tracker: > The technique for automatically tracking in range is based on the split range gate. Two range gates one is the early gate and the other is the late gate. > The video echo pulse in shown in fig 13(a) the relative position of the two gate at the particular instant is in fig 13(b) and the difference signal in fig 13(c). 7 Echo! pulse ee Time — {a Eaiy gate Time — & Early gate signal ae signal a Figure 13 Split-gate range tracking: (a) Echo pulse; (b) early-late range gates; (c) difference signal between early and late range gates. > The portion of the signal in the early gate less than that of the late gate. The signals in MrSaleem $ Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScanner\ KSIT, BANGALORE, YEARISEM: VIII Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering ‘Wo gates are integrated and subtracted to produce the difference error signal. The sign of the difference indicates the direction the two range gets have to be moved 1n order to have the Pair straddle the echo pulse. The amplitude of the difference determines how far the Pair of gates are from the center of the pulse Sometimes called the centroid, When the error signal is zero, the range of the two. Zates gi the ¢ glint in the measurement of time delay, relative to the Centre of two scatters is found to be AT 1-a? ATR =— Where AT=2(R,-R,)/C from the two scatters, foi =time extent of the target, a: is the radar carrier frequency. ‘atio of amplitudes of the signals » This expression is equivalent to the angle glint expression if the error is referred to the center of the two scatterers as it is here r ‘ather than referred to the larger scatterer. The Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORE YEARSEM: ‘M: VIUVIIL Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering range measu eee ee err be larger than the extent of the target. : cece aimee fo be mentioned about the use of this expression for range glint change of echo signal ¢ time delay (or range) of a target being given as the rate 0) > Cross and ignal phase wrtto frequency. f 's and Evans state that the split gate range tracker makes @ measurement equivalent to finding range from derivation of pulse with respect to frequency > When the target consists of multiple scatterers a glint error is int this criterion for extracting time delay. roduced when using Comparision of Trackers > ‘Two major tracking systems the amplitude - comparision monopulse and the conical scan are considered in the comparision. > Since they are quite representative of simul ential scanning. taneous tracking and sequ Signal-to-Noise Ratio greater than that > When the target is being tracked, the SNR from a monopulse radar is at the peak of from a conical scan radar. Since the monopulse antenna views the target its sum pattern. : > The conical scan rad: > Thus the SNR of monopulse might be from 2 t far views the target at some angle off the peak of the antenna beam ‘0 4db greater than conical scan. Accuracy > The monopulse radar will ha higher(important when accuracy is limited to thermal noise). > Also its angle accuracy is not affected by fluctuations in th signal as are sequential scanning systems > Both-monopulse and conical-scan systems are degraded by the wandering of the apparent position of the target caused by glint. Monopulse, because of its better signal- to-noise ratio, has a better range accuracy than conical scan. 7 ve greater angle accuracy since its SNR ratio is e amplitude of the echo Complexity > The monopulse radar is more complex of the two since it requires RF combining circuitry at the antenna and 3 receiving channels. > Conical scan has only one receiving channel and uses a single feed, but it has to rotate or nutate the antenna beam at high speed. > In the early days of tracking radar, the relative complexity of monopulse was more pronounced. Receivers were big since they were based on vacuum-tube technology, and the combining circuitry was also large. ~ Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScanner; dar engineering KSIT, BANGALORE ——-YEARVSEM: VII/VIIL__ Subject code/Title: 18£C823/Rada 7 jad to switch to > Many a wracking radar development started out with monopulse, i ie yaaa conical scan when its size or cost became too large. This is consideration. Se > Receivers are now solid state and small, and the combining circuitry has been made small by specially designed devices and the use of multimode feed systems, > Thus complexity seldom need be a reason for not choosing monopulse. 7 > The Cassegrain is a popular antenna for monopulse since the combining circuitry an low-noise receiver front-ends can be placed behind the reflector where they can be better supported mechanically and not encounter the loss that can occur with long transmission lines, : > A space-fed phased array radar can implement monopulse by using a multiple feed system similar to that used in a Cassegrain reflector antenna or a paraboloid reflector. > With a corporate or constrained feed system in a phased array, the generation of multiple squinted beams tequires a more complicated beam-forming network. Minimum number of pulses > As the name implies, a monopulse radar can perform an angle measurement in 2 co- ordinates on the basis of a single pulse. > A phased array radar might make such a single pulse angle measurement if the SNR received on a single pulse is large enough > Usually, a number of pulses are integrated in a monopulse single-target tracker to increase the signal-to-noise ratio and the measurement accuracy. > The conical-scan tracker requires a minimum of four pulses per revolution of the beam 0 extract an angle measurement in two coordinates, > Ten pulses per revolution is more likely than four, Generally the pulse repetition frequency (prf) is at least 10 times the conical-scan frequency. > The monopulse radar first makes its angle measurement and then integrates a number of measurements to obtain the required signal-to-noise ratio and to smooth (reduce) the error. > The conical-scan tadar, on the other hand, integrates a number of pulses first (in its narrowband filter) and then extracts the angle measurement. > The two tracking radars would have to integrate the same approximate number of pulses to achieve the same signal-to-noise ratio (assuming comparable radar systems), except that the conical-scan tracker has to process more pulses than the monopulse because of its 2 to 4 dB lower signal-to-noise ratio compared to the monopulse tracker. MrSaleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScannerKSIT, BANGALORI E YEARISEM: VIVVIIT Subject code/Title: 18EC823/Radar engineering Susceptibility to Electronic countermeasures » The military conical scan tracker is more vulnerable to spoofing counter measures that take advantage of its conical scan frequency > It can also suffer from deliberate amplitude fluctuations. > A well-designed monopulse tracker is much harder to deceive. Application > Monopulse tracker should be used when good angle accuracy is wanted or when susceptibility is to be minimized. | >. When high performance tracking is not necessary, conical scan tracker might be used because of its lower cost and reduced complexity. Mr.Saleem S Tevaramani, Asst Professor, ECE, KSIT [email protected] Scanned with CamScanner