43 Military Radars
43 Military Radars
43 Military Radars
RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) is basically a means of gathering information about distant objects by transmitting electromagnetic waves at them and analyzing the echoes. Radar has been employed on the ground, in air, on the sea and in space. Radar finds a number of applications such as in airport traffic control, military purposes, coastal navigation, meteorology and mapping etc. The development of the radar technology took place during the World War II in which it was used for detecting the approaching aircraft and then later for many other purposes which finally led to the development of advanced military radars being used these days. Military radars have a highly specialized design to be highly mobile and easily transportable, by air as well as ground. In this paper we will discuss about the advanced features and benefits of military radar, system configuration of a typical military radar, operating the radar, system functions, various terminal equipments used along with their functions and some of the important parts of the radar such as transmitter, receiver, antenna, AFC (Automatic Frequency Control) etc.
ABSTRACT
MILITARY RADARS
INTRODUCTION
Military radar should be an early warning, altering along with weapon control functions. It is specially designed to be highly mobile and should be such that it can be deployed within minutes. Military radar minimizes mutual interference of tasks of both air defenders and friendly air space users. This will result in an increased effectiveness of the combined combat
operations. The command and control capabilities of the radar in combination with an effective ground based air defence provide maximum operational effectiveness with a safe, efficient and flexible use of the air space. The increased operational effectiveness is obtained by combining the advantages of centralized air defence management with decentralized air defence control.
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The radar can use linear (horizontal) polarization in clear weather. During rains, to improve the suppression of rain clutter, provision exists to change to circular polarization at the touch of the button from the display console.
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SYSTEM FUNCTIONS
The main task of the radar is to provide individual weapon systems, after an alert, with accurate target data. Therefore, the system has to perform certain functions as shown in the following block diagram: -
Detection The detection function is supported by the search radar, the MTI processor and the PPI. On the PPI all moving targets, even those flying at low radial speeds, are displayed to the operator. Automatic Target Tracking After target detection a track is initiated by indicating the target video with the joystick controlled order marker. The computer starts generating a track on the basis of the joystick data. A target track marker is displayed on the PPI over the target echo. Search
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radar information is gathered and extracted by video extractor as plots. The computer evaluates the plot information, determines the position and speed of the target and updates the generated track. Identification The identification function comprises: 1) Interrogation of a target detected 2) Decoding IFF responses 3) Display of the decoded IFF responses on the PPI Reporting Function to External Terminal Equipment The data of the tracked targets is automatically converted to X and Y grid co-ordinates, with respect to preset co-ordinates of the radar location. The data is included in digital data message made up for all targets being tracked. The computer-originated message is encoded and automatically transmitted by VHF-FM radio or by line communication. IFF Alarm The IFF alarm function alerts the operator that the IFF code setting has to be changed. The valid code is displayed to the operator. The IFF codes and their validity period are entered into the system in advance.
Target Selection
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Faring at Target
Data flow at weapon systems Target Decoding The target information is received and decoded. In case no, or disturbed target information is received, it is indicated on the TDR. Parallax Correction The parallax correction function is performed by the TDR. Through this function the target data received in the X and Y co-ordinates is transferred into polar co-ordinates, with respect to the entered weapon position. Threat Evaluation The data of the targets received is processed by a threat evaluation program, built in to the TDR. This program places all the targets in a sequence according to their threat priority and displays the result (azimuth angle of four most threatening targets) as an engagement advice.
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Mains Supply
HT UNIT
High Voltage Supply
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ANTENNA TRANSMITTER UNIT
Modulator SubModulator AFC Control Circuit
BJD
VIDEO PROCESSOR
Magnetron
RECEIVER UNIT
LO+AFC UNIT
Lock Pulse Mixer AFC Discriminator
Linear Detector
PPI UNIT
IF Preamplifier
SSLO
COHO
PSD
Block Diagram of Radar The main units of radar subsystem are: 1) HT Unit The high tension unit converts the phase mains voltage into a DC supply voltage of about in the order of kV for the transmitter unit. 2) Transmitter Unit The transmitter unit comprises: a) Modulator
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The modulator consists of the following components: -
The start pulse amplifier unit comprises: An amplifier which amplifies the pulses from the video processor, a thyratron for discharging the pulse-shaping network. These pulses then trigger a monostable multivibrator. Pulse Unit
The pulse unit comprises of pulse shaping network and pulse transformer. The pulse discharge of the pulse- shaping network will occur only if the magnetron impedance transformed by the pulse transformer is about equal to the characteristic impedance of the pulse-shaping network. The thyratron diodes ensure that the remaining negative voltage, caused by the mismatch, on the pulse-forming network is directed to earth. If the mismatch is too large, capacitor is charged by the discharge current to such an extent that relay (reflection coefficient too high) is activated. This relay switches off the high voltage. b) Magnetron The magnetron is a self-oscillating RF power generator. It is supplied by the modulator by high voltage pulses, whereupon it produces band pulses. The generated RF pulses are applied to the receiver unit. The PRF of the magnetron pulses is determined by the synchronization circuit in the video processor, which applies start pulses to the sub-modulator of the transmitter unit. This sub modulator issues start pulses of suitable amplitude to trigger the thyratron in the
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modulator. On being triggered the modulator, which is supplied by the high tension unit, produces high voltage pulses. As a magnetron is self oscillating some kind of frequency control is required. The magnetron is provided with a tuning mechanism to adjust the oscillating frequency between certain limits. This tuning mechanism is operated by an electric motor being part of AFC control circuit. Together with circuits in LO+AFC unit, a frequency control loop is created, thus maintaining a frequency difference i.e. the intermediate frequency of the receiver between the output frequency of the SSLO and the magnetron output frequency. The magnetron unit comprises a coaxial tunable magnetron, servo motor driving an adjustable plunger.
Readout Module
Thyratron
Magnetron
Pulse Unit
ARC Sensor
RF Power Sensor
3) LO+AFC Unit
Transmitter Unit
The LO+AFC unit determines the frequency of the transmitted radar pulses. It comprises of: 1) Lock pulse mixer
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2) AFC discriminator 3) Solid State Local Oscillator (SSLO) 4) Coherent Oscillator (COHO) The SSLO generates a very stable low power RF signal lower than the desired transmitter frequency. This signal is split in two branches and distributed as local oscillator signal to two mixers. These are: 1) Image rejection mixer in the receiver unit 2) Lock pulse mixer The lock pulse mixer mixes the SSLO signal with a fraction of the magnetron power. The mixer output consists of AFC lock pulse, provided that the magnetron is correctly tuned. The AFC lock pulses are applied to an AFC discriminator, which checks their frequency. If the frequency of the AFC lock pulses is unequal to IF, a positive or negative control voltage for the AFC control circuit in the transmitter unit is developed, to force the magnetron frequency to the desired value. Thus the AFC loop is closed. The AFC lock pulses are also applied to COHO. The COHO outputs a signal with a frequency of AFC lock pulse, and is synchronized with the phase of each transmitter pulse. In this way a phase reference signal is obtained required by the phase sensitive detector in the receiver unit. 4) Receiver Unit The receiver unit converts the received RF echo signals to IF level and detects the IF signals. By detecting the IF signals in two different ways, two receiver channels are obtained called MTI channel and linear channel.
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The RF signals received by radar antenna are applied to the low noise amplifier. The image rejection mixer mixes the amplified signals with the SSLO signal, to obtain an IF signal. After amplification the IF signal is split into two branches viz. a MTI channel and a linear channel. A fraction of amplified received signal is branched off and applied to broadband jamming detector (BJD). In the MTI channel, the IF signal is amplified again by the MTI main amplifier, and applied to the Phase Sensitive Detector (PSD). The second signal applied to the PSD is the phase reference signal from the COHO. The output of the PSD is the function of the phase difference between the two inputs to the PSD. The polarity pulses indicate whether the phase difference is positive or negative. The phase differences between the COHO signal and IF echo signals from a fixed target is constant whereas those between the COHO signals and IF echo signals from a moving target is subject to change. The PSD output signal is applied to the canceller in video processor. In the linear channel, the IF signal is amplified again by the linear main amplifier and subsequently applied to the linear detector. The linear detector output signals are passed on to the colour PPI drive unit. 5) Antenna The search antenna is a parabolic reflector, rotating with a high speed. In the focus of the reflector is a radiator, which emits the RF pulses, and which receives the RF echo pulses. In the waveguide is the polarization shifter, which causes the polarization of the RF energy to be either horizontally or circularly.
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6) Video processor The video processor processes the MTI video from the MTI receiver channel, to make the video suitable for the presentation on the colour PPI screen. 7) Protection Units There are some protection units such as arc sensor to protect the magnetron against arcing and RF power sensor maintaining the RF power.
CONCLUSION
Military radars are one of the most important requirements during the wartime, which can be used for early detection of ballistic missile and also for accurate target detection and firing. Radar system discussed here has a built in threat evaluation program which automatically puts the target in a threat sequence, and advises the weapon crew which target can be engaged first. Most essential, the target data is available to the weapon crew in time, so the can prepare themselves to engage the best target for their specific weapon location. A magnetron radar system is relatively simple and reliable. As a consequence, minimum maintenance is required and thus the system life cycle costs can be kept low.
REFERENCES
1) Skolnik Introduction to Radar Systems McGraw Hill 2) Electronic Communication Systems by Kennedy, Davis Fourth Edition 3) Bharat Electronics Limited website www.bel-india.com
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4) Various other internet sites and journals