RADAR Engineering

Chapter-3 Tracking Radar

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TRACKING RADAR
A Tracking radar system measurers the co-ordinates of a target and provides the data to
determine the target path and to predict its future position. The data such as range, elevation
angle, azimuth angle and the Doppler frequency shift may be used in predicting the future
position.

In general any radar may be considered as tracking radar but there is a difference between
continuous tracking radar and track while scan (TWS) radar. The continuous tracking radar
provides the continuous tracking data on a particular target. The TWS radar supplies sample
data on one or more target.
The antenna beam in the continuous tracking radar is positioned in angle by a servo mechanism
actuated by an error signal. There are various methods for generating the error
Sequential Lobing 2. Conical Scanning 3. Simultaneous Lobing or Monopulse.
The information available from a tracking radar is presented on a CRT display for action or it
may be supplied to computer which determines the target path and to calculate its probable
future course.

Many tracking radar systems employ a separate search radar to provide the information
necessary to position the tracker on the target. A search radar when used for this purpose is
called Acquisition radar. Acquisition radar designates the target to the tracking radar by
providing the co-ordinates where the targets are to be found. The tracking radar acquires the
target by performing a limited search in the area of the designated target co-ordinates.

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SEQUENTIAL LOBING

A Tracking radar system employ a pencil beam antenna

pattern in which azimuth and elevation beam width are equal.
The difference between the target position and reference
position ( axis of the antenna) is angular error. The tracking
radar attempts to make this angular error becomes zero. When
the angular error is zero the target is located along the
reference direction.

One method of obtaining the direction and magnitude of

angular error in one co-ordinate is by alternately switching the
beam in two direction. It is called Sequential lobing, lobe
switching or sequential switching.
The difference in amplitudes between the voltages of two switched position is a
measure of the angular displacement of the target from reference axis. The sign of
difference determines the direction that the antenna must be moved in order to
align with the direction of the target. When the voltages between the two switched
positions are zero the target is located on the axis and its position may be determined
from the axis direction.
Sequential lobing was one of the first tracking technique to be employed. The early
applications are

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CONICAL SCANNING
In sequential lobing the antenna is switched between two positions to obtain the direction and
magnitude of the angular error. The extension of sequential lobing is to continuously rotate the
antenna beam rather than discontinuously step the beam between discrete positions. It is called
conical scanning.

The angle between axis of rotation and the axis of the antenna is called sequential lobing.
Consider the target ‘A’ (position A) the echo signal will be modulated at a frequency equal to the
rotation frequency of the beam.
The amplitude of the echo signal modulation depends upon
1. The shape of the antenna pattern
2. The squint angle
3. Angle between target and LOS and rotation.
The phase of the modulation depends upon the angle between target and rotation axis.

The conical scan modulation is extracted from the echo signal and applied to servo control
system which continuously position the antenna on the target.
When the antenna is on the target ‘B’ the LOS to the target and the rotation axis coincides, then
the conical scan modulation is zero.

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BLOCK DIAGRAM
The antenna is mounted so that it can be positioned both azimuth and elevation by
separate motors.
The receiver is a conventional super heterodyne receiver. Its main function is to
extract conical scan modulation or error signal. This is accomplished after the
second detector in the video portion of the receiver. The error signal is compared
with azimuth and elevation reference signal in angle error detectors. These are the
phase sensitive detectors. A phase sensitive detector is a non linear detector in
which the input signal is mixed with reference signal. The input and reference of
same frequency. The output voltage reverses its polarity when the phase of the input
and reference changes through . The magnitude of dc output from angle error
detector is proportional to the error signal. The sign of difference determines the
direction of error. The angle error detector are amplified and drive the antenna
elevation and azimuth servo meter.

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MONOPULSE TRACKING RADAR

The conical scanning and the sequential lobing minimum number of pulses are
required to extract the angular error signal. Then in the time interval between
pulses the train of echo signal have no amplitude modulation components, other
than the modulation produced by scanning. If the echo signal did contain
additional modulation component such as fluctuations of target cross section, then
the tracking accuracy might be reduced.

If the angular measurement is made on the basis of a single pulse rather than many,
then the pulse to pulse amplitude fluctuations of the echo signal have no effect on
the tracking accuracy. The angle of arrival of the echo signal may be determined in
a single pulse system by measuring the relative phase or relative amplitude of the
echo pulse received in each beam. The method is called simultaneous lobing or
mono pulse or amplitude comparison mono pulse which derives the angle error
information on the basis of a single pulse.

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In this technique the RF signal received from two antenna beams are combined so
that both sum & difference signal are obtained simultaneously. The sum &
difference signals are multiplied in a phase sensitive detector to obtain both the
magnitude and direction of the error signals.

Sum pattern is used for transmission. While the sum & difference patterns are used
on reception. The signal received from difference pattern provides the magnitude of
error signal. The sum signal provides range information and also used as reference
signal to extract the sign of error signal. The signals received from sum &
difference patterns are amplified separately and combined in a phase sensitive
detector to provide the error signal.

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MONOPULSE TRACKING RADAR

BLOCK DIAGRAM FOR AMPLITUDE COMPARISON MONO PULSE

The block diagram for amplitude comparison mono pulse to extract the angle error.
The adjacent antenna feeds are connected to two arms of the hybrid junction such as
magic T, rat race or short slot coupler. It generates sum & difference signals at the
other two arms of the hybrid.
On reception the inputs of sum arm and difference arm are each heterodyned to an
IF and amplified as in conventional super heterodyne receiver.
The transmission is connected to sum channel. Range information is extracted from
the sum channel. Duplexer is connected to the sum arm for the protection of
receiver. The output of the phase sensitive detector is a error signal whose
magnitude is proportional to the error signal. The sign of the error signal is an
indication of the direction.

The output of the mono pulse tracking radar is used to perform auto tracking unit.
The angle error signal actuates the servo control system to position the antenna.
Range output from sum channel feeds to an automatic range tracking unit.

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MONOPULSE TRACKING RADAR

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LOW ANGLE TRACKING

A radar that tracks a target at low elevation angles near the surface of the earth, can
receive two signals from the target.
1. one signal is reflected directly from the target
2. other arrives via earth’s surface.
The direct and surface reflected signals combine at the radar to yield an angle
measurement that differ from the true measurement. The result is the error in
measurement of elevation.
The surface reflected signal some times called a multi path signal.
The surest method for avoiding tracking error due to multi path reflections is to use
an antenna with narrow beam width that does not illuminate the surface. This
requires large antenna and / or a higher frequencies.

The range resolution required to separate the direct signal from the ground reflected
signal is

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PULSE COMPRESSION
The main object of the Radar designer is
1. target detection
2. range and Doppler accuracy
3. range and Doppler resolution
generally the detestability of targets depends on the total energy of the illuminating
waveform. It is processed by the matched filter
Good range accuracy and resolution require large energy and large bandwidth for
short pulse.
Short duration and large energy pulses require very large peak powers which are not
available. Short pulses have poor Doppler resolution.
Practically range resolution is obtained by designing the waveform shape to give
high bandwidth by using frequency modulation. When using matched filtering the
matched filtering generally compresses the long pulse to an auto correlation function
of short duration at the output of the receiver. This type of radar processing design is
known is compression. Both range and Doppler accuracies are good for this type of
processing since the requirements of large bandwidth and pulse duration are both met.

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Example :
This barker code has length 12. the (+) indicates the 0 phase, (-) indicates radians. The auto
correlation function or the output of the matched filter is shown in (b).
There are six equal side lobes to either side of the peak each at a level -22.3 dB below the peak.
The figure © describes the circuit that represents the trapped delay line that generates the barker
coded waveform when an impulse is incident at the left hand terminal. The same trapped delay
line can be used as the receiver matched filter if the input is applied at the right hand terminal.

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10 −18 SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR
The physical size of a real antenna limits the minimum achievable beam width. The
minimum achievable beam width may not be adequately small to yield cross – range
resolutions that would be desirable for some specific applications such as terrain
mapping etc.

Synthetic Aperture Radar SAR synthesizes a large antenna by moving a real

antenna through different locations across the volume of interest. The synthesized
length then equals the distance moved by the real antenna.

The antenna moves through different locations and a pulse is transmitted from each
location. The received echoes from different locations are stored and then processed
in such a way that the antenna behaves as if it was along as the distance traavelled.

If there was an antenna physically as long as the synthesized antenna (the

incremental elements would be formed simultaneously here and ) narrow beam
would be formed by adding outputs of all those elements. In case of synthesized
antenna, these incremental elements would be formed sequentially. The outputs
from these elements are stored till the full array is formed. The outputs are then
summed to form a narrow beam.

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Environmental monitoring,
earth-resource mapping, and
military systems require broad-
area imaging at high
resolutions. Often, this imagery
must be acquired at night or
during inclement weather—
Synthetic Aperture Radar
(SAR) provides such a
capability. SAR systems take
advantage of the long-range
propagation characteristics of
radar signals and the complex
information processing
capability of modern digital
electronics to provide high
resolution imagery

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PHASED ARRAY RADAR
A directive antenna array, in which the relative phases and amplitudes of the currents
at the individual elements are controlled to obtain the desired shape and direction of
the radiation pattern, is called a phased array.

The control of the relative phases can be used to stear beam, while the control of
relative amplitude may be used to synthesize a desired shape of the pattern with a
minimum of side lobes.
For an array with uniform spacing and with elements fed with equal currents the
radiation pattern is given by field expression

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Implementation of the phased array:
A controllable progressive phase shift in the feeds of the array elements can be
implemented either by a series or a parallel feed as shown in (a) and (b).
In the series feed array, the power may be fed from one end of the array (a). and
reaches the other end for undergoing progressive between elements. In parallel
fed the power is fed at the central elements from which it is distributed towards
the two ends. The phase shifts in this case will be positive for element to the right
and negative for the elements on the left.

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A phased array radar has a unique flat panel antenna that remains stationary. The
panel is made up of a grid of fixed antenna elements, and each can transmit and
receive a signal. As a result, the radar beam can be steered electronically, giving users
the ability to control how, when and where the radar scans.

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ELECTRONIC WARFARE:
Electronic warfare EW such as that experienced recently during Gulf
is the best exploits the electromagnetic EM spectrum. Iraqi radars
were blinded by electronic countermeasures and the opposing allied
forces were able to gain the control of the air. One of the key
elements in a modern battle is how well the attacking the defending
radars of each side stand up to the electromagnetic onslaught from
the other.
The objectives of the electronic warfare system are:
• to deny the enemy the effective use of the EM spectrum
• to protect friendly EM systems against EW attack

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Electronic counter-measures:
The techniques for rendering the enemy radars ineffective
in detecting targets are called Electronic Counter Measures
(ECM). The techniques called like jamming of the enemy
radars by powerful radio beams directed towards their
radars are called active ECM. Passive ECM includes chaffs
or needles of metals thrown out to scatter the enemy radar
beams away from the real target. Active ECM reduces the
detection range of a radar drastically.

The effectiveness of ECM system can be increased

significantly using high tech intercept receivers to identify
characteristics of the threat signal from the enemy radar.
For identification of the threat signal from the jammer site
requires wide band, high sensitivity receivers, which
determine the enemy radar frequency, location, waveform
etc. Such receivers meant for early warning (EW)
applications are being developed. These receivers serve as
Electronic Support Measures (ESM).

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Electronic Counter Counter Measure:
The most effective techniques of overcoming ECM produced by jamming is to use
frequency agility which changes the radar operating frequency in an unpredictable
manner. The jamming produced the energy may, infact, be overcome by frequency
agility which would force the enemy to spread the bandwidth of the noise jammer
over a wide range, tending to reduce the noise power per unit bandwidth.
Another powerful technique of ECCM would be to reduce the beamwidth of the radar
antenna, which is possible to achieve at mm wave even with an antenna diameter of
moderate size.
Other ECCM techniques include:
1. Frequency diversity using two or more radars at different radar bands for the
jamming to spread power over the entire band available to radar
2. multiple spaced radars operating at the same radar band
3. use of mm wavelengths.

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MST Radar
Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere Radar:
VHF Radars operating at wavelengths of 1-10 m had
considerable potential for studying atmospheric
dynamics because the wavelengths are well suited for
turbulence scale sizes. Such radars are called MST
radars. These radars operating in the regions of
troposphere, stratosphere and mesosphere. MST radar
has the advantages.
1. Very good time and height resolution
2. The capacity of making observations simultaneously
over a wide range.
3. The possibility of continuous operation
4. The capacity of measuring vertical air motions

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Questions.
1. What is a Tracking radar. Explain the difference between tracking radar and
acquisition radar.
2. Define error signal and explain the various methods to generate error signal
3. Describe the operation of Sequential lobbing and Conical scanning method
of obtaining error signal with the help of necessary diagram/BD
4. With a neat diagrams explain the operation of Monopulse tracking radar.
5. Explain the principle of low angle tracking
6. Write short notes on
a. Synthetic aperture radar
b. Phased array radar
c. Pulse compression
d. MST radar
e. ECM and ECCM.

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