MTI and Pulse Doppler Radar

• The doppler frequency shift produced by a moving target may be

used in a pulse radar, to determine the relative velocity of a target
– Or to separate desired moving targets from undesired stationary objects (clutter)

– Such a pulse radar that utilizes the doppler frequency shift as a means for
discriminating moving target from fixed one is called an MTI (Moving
g Indication)) or p
Target pulse doppler
pp radar.

• The two are based on same physical principle, but practically they
differ to each other
– The MTI radar usually operates with ambiguous doppler measurement (blind
speed) but with unambiguous range measurement

– While
hil regarding
di pulse
l doppler
d l radar,
d itsi PRF isi usually
ll high
hi h enoughh to
operate with unambiguous doppler (no blind speed) but at the expense of
range ambiguities
 MTI Radar
• MTI is a necessity in high-quality air-surveillance radars that
operate in the presence of clutter
• The CW radar may be converted into a pulse radar by providing a
power amplifier and a modulator to turn the amplifier on or off
for the purpose of generating pulses
• figure
– The major difference between this pulse radar and the one described in
Chapter-1 is that a small portion of the CW oscillator power that generates
the transmitted pulses are diverted to the Rx to take the place of the LO
– The CW signal act as the coherent reference needed to detect the doppler
frequency shift
• Coherent means that the phase of the transmitted signal is preserved in the
g
reference signal
– The reference signal is the distinguishing feature of coherent MTI radar.
a)) Simple
p CW radar
b) Pulse radar using doppler information
• If the oscillator voltage is represented as A1sin2πftt, where A1 is
the amplitude and ft is the carrier frequency, the reference signal is
Vref = A2sin2πftt
and the doppler-shifted echo signal voltage is
Vecho = A3ssin[2π(f
[ π( t ± fd)t
)t- 4πf
π tR0/c]
where, A2 = amplitude of reference signal
A3 = amplitude of signal received from a target at a range R0
fd = doppler frequency shift

• The reference signal and the echo signal are heterodyned in the
mixer of the Rx.
– Only the low frequency component from the mixer is of interest, given by
Vdiff = A4sin(2πfdt- 4πftR0/c]
• For stationary targets,
targets the fd will be zero
– Hence, Vdiff will not vary with time, and take on any constant value from
+A4 to -A4 including zero

• Moving targets may be distinguished from stationary targets by

observing the video output on an A-scope
• figure
• This sweep shows various fixed targets and two moving targets
i di
indicated
d by
b the
h two arrows
• On the basis of a single sweep, moving targets cannot be
di ti i h d from
distinguished f fixed
fi d targets
t t
– Thus, successive A-scope sweeps are shown in figure
• Arrow iindicates
A di t ththe
position of moving target

• (a-e) Successive sweeps of

an MTI radar A-scope
display

• (f) superposition of many

sweeps
• Echoes from fixed targets remain constant throughout
– But echoes from moving targets vary in amplitude from sweep to sweep at
a rate corresponding to the doppler frequency

• The superposition of the successive A-scope is shown.

– The moving target produce, with time, a butterfly effect

• In order to extract doppler information, we have to pass the signal

after the Rx to the Delay-Line Canceller (DLC).
– It act as a filter to eliminate the d-c component of fixed targets
– and, to pass the a-c components of moving targets
• figure

• The
Th video
id portion
ti off the
th Rx
R is
i divided
di id d into
i t two
t channels
h l
– One is normal video channel
– The other video signal experiences a time delay equal to one pulse-
repetition period
• The output from the two channels are subtracted from one another
– The fixed target with unchanging amplitudes from pulse to pulse are
cancelled on subtraction
– However, the amplitudes of the moving target echoes are not constant from
pulse to pulse, and subtraction results in an un-cancelled residues

• Finally, it is converted to unipolar voltages by a full-wave

rectifier
• The simple MTI radar shown earlier is not necessarily the most
typical one
• The block diagram of a more common MTI radar employing a
power amplifier is shown in figure
– The difference from the earlier one is the manner in which the reference
signal is generated

• The coherent reference is supplied by an oscillator called the coho

which stands for coherent oscillator
– The coho is a stable oscillator whose frequency is same as the intermediate
frequency used in the receiver

• The output of coho (fc) is also mixed with the LO frequency fl

– The LO must also be a stable oscillator, and is called as stalo for Stable LO
• MTI radar with power amplifier Tx
• The RF echo signal is heterodyned with the stalo signal to produce
the
h IF signal
i l just
j as in
i conventional
i l superheterodyne
h d Rx
R

• The characteristic feature of coherent MTI radar is that the

transmitted
i d signal
i l must beb coherent
h (in
(i phase)
h ) with
i h the
h reference
f
signal in the Rx
– This is done by generating the transmitted signal from the coho reference
signal

• The function of the stalo is to provide the necessary frequency

translation
l i from
f the
h IF to the
h transmitted
i d (RF) frequency
f
– Although the phase of the stalo influences the phase of the transmitted signal,
any stalo phase shift is cancelled on reception
• because
b the
h stalo
l that
h generates the
h transmitted
i d signal
i l also
l acts as the
h LO in
i the
h Rx
R

• The reference signal from the coho and the IF signal are both fed into
a mixer
i called
ll d phase
h detector
d t t
• Any one of a number of transmitter
transmitter-tube
tube might be used as the
power amplifier.
• A Tx which consists of a stable low
low-power
power oscillator followed by
a power amplifier is sometimes called MOPA
– which stands for Master-Oscillator Power Amplifier
– figure
fi

• A portion of the transmitted signal is mixed with the stalo output

to produce an IF beat signal whose phase is directly related to the
phase of the Tx
– This IF pulse is applied to the coho and causes the phase of the coho CW
oscillation to LOCK in step with the phase of the IF reference pulse
• At the next transmission, another IF locking pulse is generated to relock the
phase of the CW coho.
Delay Line Canceller (DLC):
• It is an example of a time-domain filter
– The capability of this device depends on the quality of the medium used as
the delay line

• For ground-based air-surveillance radars, this might be several

milliseconds
illi d
– Delay time of this magnitude cannot be achieved with practical EM
transmission lines

• One of the advantage of a time-domain DLC as compared to the

more conventional frequency domain filter is that
– a single network operates at all the ranges and does not require a separate
filter for each range
Filter characteristic of the DLC:
• The DLC acts as a filter which rejects the d-c component of clutter
– Because of its periodic nature, the filter also rejects energy in the vicinity of
the PRF and its harmonics

• The video signal received from a particular target at a range R0 is

V1 = k sin(2πfdt - φ0)
• The signal from the previous transmission, which is delayed by a
time T ((=1/prf)
1/prf), is
V2 = k sin[2πfd(t-T) - φ0]
Everything else is assumed to remain essentially constant over the
interval T so that k is the same for both. The o/p from subtractor is
V = V1 - V2 = 2k sin(πfdT) cos[2πfd(t-T/2) - φ0]
• It is assumed that the gain through the DLC is unity
• The output from the canceller consist of a cosine wave at the
doppler frequency fd with an amplitude 2k sin(πfdT)
– Thus the amplitude of the cancelled video o/p is a function of the doppler
frequency shift and the pulse-repetition interval
Blind Speed:
• The response of the single DLC will be zero whenever the
argument πfdT in the amplitude factor is ‘nπ’ where n=0, 1,2…etc
or when
fd = n/T = nfp
• The DLC not only eliminates the d-c component caused by clutter
(n=0), but unfortunately it also rejects any moving target whose
doppler frequency happens to be the same as the PRF or a multiple
multiple.
– Those relative target velocities which results in zero MTI response are called
blind speed and are given by
vn = nλ/2T
λ/2T = nλf
λfp/2,
/2 n = 1,2,3,….
123
where, vn is the nth blind speed.
• The blind speeds are one of the limitations of MTI radar which do
not occur with CW radar.
– They are present because doppler is measured by discrete samples (pulses)
at the PRF rather than continuously
contin o sl

• If the first blind speed is to be greater than the maximum radial

velocity expected from the target,
target the product λfp must be large
• Thus, in order to reduce the effect of blind speed:
– Radar must be operated at long wavelengths (low frequency)
• Have the disadvantage that antenna beamwidth, for a given antenna, are wider
than at the higher frequency
• and, would not be satisfactory where angular resolution is important
– Or, with high PRF
• But, it can’t be always varied over wide range since it primarily obtained by
the unambiguous range requirements
– Or, both
Double Cancellation:
• The frequency response of a single DLC does not always have as
broad a clutter-rejection null as might be desired in the vicinity of
d-c
– The clutter-rejection notches may be widened by passing the output of the
DLC through a second DLC
– figure

• The output of the two single DLC in cascade is the square of that
from a single canceller
– Thus the frequency response is 4sin2(πfdT)
– Thus,
Thus also called as double canceller

• The relative response of the double canceller compared with that

g DLC is shown
of a single
Multiple Or Staggered PRF:
• The use of more than one PRF offers additional flexibility in the
design of MTI doppler filters
– It reduces the effect of blind speed

• The blind speeds of two independent radars operating at the same

f
frequency will
ill be
b different
diff if their
h i PRFs are different
diff
– Therefore, if one radar were blind to moving targets, it would be unlikely
that the other radar would be blind also
• Thus, instead of using two separate radars, the same results can be
obtained with one radar which time-shares its PRF between two
or more different values (multiple PRFs)
– The PRF might be switched every other scan or every time the antenna is
scanned.
– When
Wh theh switching
i hi isi pulse
l to pulse,
l iti is
i known
k as a staggeredd PRF
• As example of the composite response of an MTI radar operating
with two separate PRF on a time-shared basis was shown
– The PRF are in the ratio of 5:4

• The first blind speed of the composite response is increased

several times over what it would be for a radar operating on only
a single PRF
• Zero response occurs only when the blind speeds of each PRF
coincide
– In given example, the blind speeds are coincident for 4/T1 = 5/T2

• Although the first blind speed may be extended by using more

than one PRFs
– The regions of low sensitivity might appear within the composite passband
Limitations to MTI Performance:
• The improvement in signal-to-clutter ratio of an MTI is affected by
factors other than the design of the doppler signal processor
• MTI improvement factor (I)
– The signal-to-clutter ratio at the output of the MTI system divided by the
signal-to-clutter
i l l ratio
i at the
h input,
i averagedd uniformly
if l over all
ll target radial
di l
velocities of interest

• Subclutter visibility (SCV)

– The ratio by which the target echo power may be weaker than the coincident
clutter echo power, and still be detected with specified detection and false
alarm probabilities
• A SCV of 30dB implies that a moving target can be detected in the presence of
clutter even though the clutter echo power is 1000 times the target echo power
• Clutter visibility factor
– The signal-to-clutter ratio, after cancellation or doppler filtering, that
provides stated probabilities of detection and false alarms

• Clutter attenuation
– The ratio of clutter power at the canceller input to the cluster residue at the
output normalized to the attenuation of a single pulse passing through the
output,
unprocessed channel of the canceller

• Cancellation ratio
– The ratio of canceller voltage amplification for the fixed-target echoes
received with a fixed antenna, to the gain for a single pulse passing through
the unprocessed channel of the canceller
• The term I is equal to the SCV times the clutter visibility
factor (Voc)
– In decibels, I = SCV + Voc (al in dB)
– When the MTI is limited by noise-like system instabilities, the clutter
visibility factor should be chosen as is the SNR
• The improvement factor (I) is the preferred measure of MTI radar
performance
f
NonCoherent MTI:
• The composite echo signal from a moving target and clutter
fluctuates in both phase and amplitude.
• The coherent MTI and the pulse-doppler radar make use of the
phase fluctuations in the echo signal to recognize the doppler
component produced
d d by b a movingi target
– Here, the amplitude fluctuations are removed by the phase detector
– Radars workingg on this principle
p p are called as Coherent MTI,,
• and depend upon a reference signal at the radar Rx that is coherent with the Tx signal

• It is also possible to use the amplitude fluctuations to recognize

the doppler component produced by a moving target
– The MTI radar which uses amplitude instead of phase fluctuations is called
noncoherent
Block Diagram of a NonCoherent MTI radar
• The noncoherent MTI radar does not require an internal coherent
reference signal
g or a pphase detector as does the coherent MTI
– Amplitude limiting cannot be employed in the noncoherent MTI Rx, else the
desired amplitude fluctuations would be lost
• Therefore the IF amplifier
p must be linear

• The detector following the IF amplifier is a conventional amplitude

detector
– The phase detector is not used since the phase information is of no interest
– The LO does not have to be as frequency-stable as in the coherent MTI

• The output of the amplitude detector is followed by an MTI

processor such as a DLC
• The doppler component contained in the amplitude fluctuations
may also be detected by applying the output of the amplitude
p
detector to an A-scope
– Amplitude fluctuations due to doppler produce a butterfly modulation
• Its major limitation is that the target must be in the presence of
relatively large clutter signals
– If moving target detection is to take place

• The clutter serves the same function as does the reference signal
in the coherent MTI
– If clutter
l tt were nott present,
t the
th desired
d i d targets
t t would
ld nott be
b detected
d t t d

• It is possible to provide a switch to disconnect the noncoherent

operation and revert to normal radar
– whenever sufficient clutter echoes are not present
Pulse Doppler Radar (PDR):
• A pulse radar that extracts the doppler frequency shift for the
purpose of detecting moving targets in the presence of clutter is
either an MTI radar or a PDR
– The distinction between them is based on the fact that in a sampled
measurement system, like a pulse radar, ambiguities can arise in both the
doppler frequency (relative velocity) and the range (time delay)

• Range
g ambiguities
g are avoided with a low sampling
p g rate ((low PRF))
– While doppler frequency ambiguities are avoided with a high sampling rate

• Therefore a compromise must be made,

made and the nature of the
compromise generally determines whether the radar is called an
MTI or a pulse doppler
• MTI usually refers to a radar in which the PRF is chosen low
enough to avoid ambiguities in range
– But results in blind speed

• The PDR has a high PRF that avoids blind speeds

– But it experience ambiguities in range