Determining Target position

In order to detect a target it must be within the beam of the antenna and its echoes must be strong enough Range measurements Range depends on Power of transmitted beam Fraction of time that the power is transmitted Size of antenna Reflecting characteristics of target Duration of observation Wavelength of radio waves Strength of background

The power of the transmitted beam depends on the transmitters output and the gain of the antennas mainlobe.

Two factors reduce the power Absorption within the atmosphere- increases with wavelength Spreading proportional to 1/R2

The amount of power intercepted by a target depends on the power density at the target and the cross sectional area. A certain of energy is scattered back depending on the reflectivity and the directivity Reflectivity A measure of the efficiency of a radar target in intercepting and returning radio energy
Reflectivity = Pscattter Pint ercepted

Directivity The ratio of the power scattered back in the radar's direction to the power that would have been backscattered had the scattering been uniform.
Directivity = Pbackscatter Pisotropic Pbackscatter 1 Pscatter 4

Since Pisotropic and Pbackscatter are expressed as power per unit angle The cross sectional area, reflectivity and directivity are often grouped together to form the radar cross section

= Cross sectional area x Reflectivity x Directivity

Pscatter P x backscatter 1 Pint ercepted Pscatter 4 backscatter power = 4Ax intercepted power = Ax

Radar cross section is the measure of a target's ability to reflect radar signals in the direction of the radar receiver, i.e. it is a measure of the ratio of backscatter power per steradian (unit solid angle) in the direction of the radar (from the target) to the power density that is intercepted by the target.

Radar Cross section as Function of Angle

Typical Aircraft ACS

The Radar Equation

The power density at a distant point from a radar with an antenna gain of Gt is the power density from an isotropic antenna multiplied by the radar antenna gain. Power density from radar,

(1) If you could cover the entire spherical segment with your receiving antenna you would theoretically capture all of the transmitted energy. You can't do this because no antenna is large enough. (A two degree segment would be about a 1km across at 25km from the transmitter.) The power scattered by the target with scattering cross section spreads out and is intercepted by the receiving antenna with an area Ar 4R 2 Combining with (1) gives
P=

( 4 ) 2 R 4

Pt Gt Ar

The power transmitted will not be continuous but an average can be taken Pavg. If the target is illuminated for a time tot the signal energy (SE) received will be
Pavg Gt Ar t ot

SE =

( 4 ) 2 R 4

If the losses due to atmospheric attenuation and ambient noise are L

Pavg Gt Ar t ot

SE =

( 4 ) 2 R 4 L

Maximum range at which the target will be detected

R =4 Pavg Gt Ar t ot

( 4 ) 2 S min L

This is the range equation. It allows trade-off to be done on the system parameters In practice they are not all independent. E.g. If the antenna size is doubled this would increase the area by a factor of 4 allowing an increase in range. However if the antenna size were doubled the beamwidth would be cut by half so this would have an impact on ot. This could be avoided by slowing down the antenna Changing the wavelength would also change the beamwidth and would also effect the attenuation within the atmosphere.

Stealth
Electronic emission issues: Reduce use of radar and other active communications Thermal signature issues: Elements such as the leading edges of the wings, which become heated by air friction in flight, can be internally cooled by pumping fuel or hydraulic fluid around and through them. Engines intakes and exhausts to be mounted above the wings, out of "sight" of heat-seeking SAM's, MANPADS, etc. Optical illusion: Blend lights into the lower surfaces of the aircraft in an attempt to blend the visual silhouette into the sky background. Overall aircraft colour: Scattered light from dust and clouds reflects onto an aircraft's underside. Even black aircraft below 50,000 ft will be visible due to this phenomenon. Most aircraft for that reason are painted a low visibility grey to take advantage of low light levels. Black aircraft are useful at night (hence why their missions are usually nocturnal) Aerodynamic effects, contrail suppression: Some aircraft have contrail detectors built in which monitor contrail side effects, these can be countered by chemicals injected into the exhaust plumes using chlorosulphonic acids, various alcohol mixtures, etc) for suppression Radar cross section: RCS [dBsm] +26 +20 +20 +12 +10 +7 0 0 0 -3 RCS [m2] 400 100 100 15 10 5 1 1 1 0.5 RCS [ft2] 4,305 1,076 1,076 161 108 54 11 11 11 5.5

Aircraft
F-15 Eagle F-4 Phantom II B-52 Stratofortress Su-27 B-1A F-16 Fighting Falcon B-1B Lancer F-18E/F Super Hornet Rafale Typhoon

AGM-86 ALCM BGM-109 Tomahawk

SR-71 Blackbird F-22 Raptor F-117 Nighthawk B-2 Spirit

-6 -13 -18 -22 -25 -28 -30 -70

0.25 0.05 0.015 0.0065 0.003 0.0015 0.001

2.5 0.5 0.15 0.07 0.03 0.02 0.01

AGM-129 ACM Boeing Bird of Prey

0.0000001 0.000008

The radar cross section in dBsm is the RCS relative to 1 square meter

Example The F-117A The world's first operational aircraft designed to exploit low-observable stealth technology The skeleton of the F-117 is made mainly of aluminium. The aircrafts skin, by contrast, is mostly composite RAM (Radar Absorbent Material) "The effectiveness of F-117A's RAM skin was demonstrated in an unusual manner during the Gulf War, when ground crews started finding dead bats around the tails of hangared aircraft. The unfortunate creatures had clearly flown "full tilt" into the Black Jet's tailfins, which their high frequency 'sonar' had been unable to detect." Cross section 10cm2 RAM coating Coating contains carbonyl iron ferrite. Radar energy is converted to heat. Coating can be in the form of tiles or paint applied by robotics

Internal Radar absorbent construction Structures below the skin of the radar that traps the electromagnetic energy External Geometry Flat, angled external panels of F-117A are designed to reflect radar waves in all directions but the direction of the radar's receiving antenna. Leads to poor aerodynamics which can make detection of turbulent air possible

IR emission Control The use of broad flat exhausts to spread jet influx along a large surface area. This reduces hot spots but makes the engines less efficient

F117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter

F22 Raptor

F35

B2 Spirit- Stealth Bomber

Bird of Prey http://www.goxium.com/xma201.htm