Applications of Radar

Basic Concepts Definition Radar RAdio Detection And Ranging. A system that uses reflected electromagnetic radiation to determine the velocity and location of a targeted object; widely used in such applications as aircraft and ship navigation, military reconnaissance, automobile speed checks, and weather observations.

The transmitter generates the radio waves which are radiated by one of the antennas whilst the receiver antenna listens for the echos of these waves. If a target is detected a blip occurs on the display. In practice the receiver and the transmitter often share the same antenna. Radar History

Sir Henry Tizard

Robert Watson-Watt

Applications Hazardous Weather Detection Storm avoidance Windshear warning Navigational Aid Marking remote facilities Facilitating air traffic control Avoiding air-to-air collisions Blind low altitude flight Forward velocity update Precision velocity update Ground Mapping Ice patrol Terrain mapping Environmental Monitoring Law enforcement Blind landing guidance Short- Range Sea Search Search and rescue Submarine detection Reconaissance/Surveillance Long-range surveillance Early warning Sea surveillance Ground battle management Low-altitude survellance

Fighter/Interceptor Support Air- to air search Raid assessment Target identification Gun/missile control Missile guidance

Air/Ground Weapon Delivery Blind tactical bombing Strategic bombing Defence suppression

Proximity Fuses Artillery Guided missile

Clear Air radar

Operating frequency: 1275 MHz Peak power: 1 kW at feed Antenna diameter: 25 m Beam width: 0.75 Pulse repetition frequency: 3125 Hz (typical) Minimum range: 1.8 km (typical) Maximum range: 48 km (typical) Pulse duration: 0.8 s x 8 bits (typical) Range resolution: 60 m

Wind Shear Radar

Swiss Air Traffic Control Radar

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Ice patrol

Fylingdales- the old and the new

Australian Air Force Airborne Early Warning System An Active Electronically Scanned Array L band
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Patriot Radar operating frequency 4-6GHz. Phased array with 5000 elements that can track 100 objects at distances of 100Km
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Frequencies used for Radar

It depends on a large number of factors including Physical Size In order to transmit and generate RF power the dimensions of the hardware must be similar to the wavelength. A 30cm radar is going to be large Transmitted Power High power radar are usually low frequency because of size of hardware needed. Difficult to dissipate heat and restrict gradients if components are small Beamwidth Atmospheric Attenuation Absorption and scattering by the atmospheric gases particularly oxygen and water vapour. Below 0.1GHz absorption is negligible. Above 20GHz it can be severe. Scattering is proportional to particles dielectric constant and the size of the particle relative to the wavelength. The scattering by hail, smoke, dust is low because the dielectric constant is low Doppler The higher the frequency of the radar used the greater will be the shift in frequency for a motion of the target and the more sensitive. Excessive Doppler shifts can cause problems

Typical Frequency Selection

Early Warning Radar Radar Altimeters Weather Radars Fighter/Attack UHF and S band C-band C and X-bands X and Ku bands

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Federal Spectrum Requirement Forecast for Radar Bands

Frequency Bands 92-100 GHz 31.8-36 GHz Airborne fire-control, beacons, atmospheric research, cloud detection, and synthetic vision radars Airborne navigational, mapping, weather, beacon, terrain following & avoidance; aircraft carrier PAR, test range, atmospheric & oceanic research, altimeter, scatterometer, and synthetic vision radars Doppler radiolocation, vehicle speed detection, scatterometer, and precipitation radars Airborne and shipborne multimode search, battlefield, aircraft carrier PAR, fire-control, test range, ASDE, scatterometer, precipitation, atmospheric research, and spaceborne radars Airborne and shipborne search and acquisition Doppler, airborne weather, altimeters, scatterometer, precipitation, environmental research, and spaceborne radars Airborne and shipborne surveillance and navigation, fire-control, battlefield, maritime, weather, test range, airborne radionavigation, ATC, SAR's, altimeters, ASDE, scatterometer, vehicle speed detection, and spaceborne radars NOAA weather radars, FAA TDWR, surveillance and air defense (airborne, shipborne, land-based), fire-control, maritime, test range, SAR's, altimeters, scatterometer, airborne, and spaceborne radars Aircraft radar altimeters DOD surveillance and air defense (airborne, shipborne, landbased), ATC, SAR's, altimeters, test range, and spaceborne radars ATC, maritime, and weather radars; DOD shipborne, airborne, ground air surveillance radars; range control, and spaceborne radars Planetary and lunar radar ATC, SAR's, and DOD early warning air defense, battlefield, shipborne long-range surveillance, and spaceborne radars Navy shipborne long-range surveillance, test range, NASA research, and wind profiler radars DOD early warning and long-range surveillance radars; and wind profiler radars DOD space surveillance radar DOD OTH and surface wave radar

24.05-24.65 GHz 15.4-17.3 GHz

13.25-14.2GHz 8.5-10.55 GHz

5250-5925 MHz

4200-4400 MHz 3100-3650 MHz 2700-3100 MHz 2310-2385 MHz 1215-1390 MHz 890-942 MHz 420-450 MHz 216-220 MHz 3-30 MHz

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