EAS487: Radar Remote Sensing Spring 2014

HOMEWORK 5: Signals and Noise

Reference: Lectures 23-30 Due: 2014 March 26
Problem 1. A receiver operates at a frequency of
400 MHz where the cosmic noise temperature is 50
K. There is a 50 m length of coaxial cable between
the antenna and receiver made of RG-8, a common,
moderately lossy cable with an attenuation rate of 5
dB/100 feet at 400 MHz. The cable temperature is
300 K. The receiver has three stages, each with 20
dB gain. The noise temperatures of the three stages
are 40 K (front end), 200 K, and 200 K.
a) Calculate the total system noise temperature
T
sys
.
b) Repeat (a), only replace the cable with RG-
17, a heavy duty cable with an attenuation rate
of 2.3 dB/100 feet at this frequency.
c) Repeat (a) again (using RG-8), only this time
move the receiver front end up to the antenna,
with the transmission line then connecting to
the other two stages.
In practice, the losses involved with coax cable are
prohibitively high at UHF frequencies and above,
motivating designers to use waveguide instead de-
spite the much higher cost. At VHF frequencies
and below, coaxial cable losses are more modest, and
some new low-loss cable types have recently become
available.
Problem 2. Suppose a radar transmits a pulse
that is equal to +1 from t = 0 to t = and equal
to 1 from t = to t = 3. (I dont know why you
would transmit such a pulse, but ...)
a) Sketch the signal that will be received from
a point target scatterer at a range R from the
radar.
b) Sketch the lter response function of a
matched lter for this situation.
c) Calculate and sketch the output from such a
lter for the signal described in (a).
Problem 3. From a noise point of view, an an-
tenna can be modeled as a series combination of two
noise sources, one with a resistance R representing
the ohmic resistance of the antenna and a temper-
ature T representing its physical temperature. The
other source has, in general, a complex impedance
Z
a
= R
a
+iX, where R
a
is the radiation resistance,
and a temperature T
a
related to the temperatures of
the bodies in the antennas radiative eld of view.
a) Starting with the Nyquist noise theo-
rem, show that the RMS noise voltage across
the source with resistance R
a
is V
RMS
=
2

R
a
K
B
BT
a
.
b) Show that, so long as R
a
R, the noise
power delivered by an antenna to a matched load
will be dominated by the component associated
with its radiation resistance.
Problem 4. In class, I showed a picture of the Al-
tair UHF radar, which has a radiation pattern similar
to that of a uniformly-illuminated circular aperture
of radius 25 even though the actual radius is 35.
This radar is sometimes used to observe volume scat-
ter from electrons in the Earths ionosphere.
a) Using the uniform aperture approximation,
write down expressions for the radiation pat-
tern for this antenna, its maximum directivity,
HPBW, and aperture eciency. Make a plot of
the radiation pattern, being careful to demon-
strate the HPBW, rst sidelobe level, and loca-
tions of the rst nulls. This part of the problem
should be a review for you.
b) Compute the backscatter gain and backscat-
ter area for this antenna. Compare the former
with the maximum gain and the latter with the
eective and physical areas.
CORNELL UNIVERSITY c DAVE HYSELL (13/03/18)
HW 51