1960 Skolnik: Theoretical Accuracy of Radar Measurements 123

CONCLUSIONS 6) Processes for possible excitation of plasma oscilla-

In this paper we have reviewed the state of art in esti- tions.
mating RF noise from the environment of a hypersonic 7) Nonequilibrium velocity distribution of electrons
vehicle. It has been shown that the noise caused by the in shock due to nonuniformity in temperature,
incoherent processes is less than that caused by a cor- potential and composition. (Application of Sod-
responding black body. Some of the areas which require ha'7'18 to shocks.)
further investigation include 8) Emission and absorption of radiation in non-
equilibrium conditions.
1) Calculation of environment in the slip flow region. 9) Basic research in radiation processes.
2) Estimation of turbulent wake.
3) Investigation of shock structure.
4) Fluctuations of charge distribution in a shock. 17 M. S. Sodha, "Electrical and thermal currents in a slightly

5) Radiation due to (2) and possibly due to move- ionized gas," Phys. Rev., vol. 119, pp. 882-886; 1960.
18 M. S. Sodha, Bull. Am. Phys. Soc., vol. 5, ser. II, pp. 413-414;
ment of the charge distribution. 1960. (Also to be published elsewhere.)

Theoretical Accuracy of Radar Measurements*

MERRILL I. SKOLNIKt, SENIOR MEMBER, IRE

Summary-The theoretical rms error in measuring time delay cies derived from the statistical theory of parameter es-
(range) and Doppler frequency (relative velocity) are determined timation and communication theory.
for representative radar waveforms, including rectangular-, trape-
zoidal-, triangular-, and Gaussian-shaped pulses as well as the The theoretical rms error in measuring the two-way
linear FM pulse compression waveform. The so-called "uncer- time delay Tr= 2 R/c, taken by a radar signal in travel-
tainty" relationship of radar is interpreted in terms of measurement ing at a velocity c from the radar to target at a range
errors and the difference between the radar and the quantum R and back, has been shown to be
mechanical uncertainty principles is discussed. Mention is also
made of the theoretical error involved in measuring the angle of 1
arrival with an antenna aperture. /T=3(2EINo)" (1)
(1)
fliFpHE PURPOSE of this paper is to present expres-
jj sions for the minimium theoretical rms error with where E is the energy contained in the echo signal at
which time delay (range) and Doppler frequency the radar, No is the noise power per cycle of receiver
(relative velocity) may be measured using representa- bandwidth with which the signal must compete, and A
tive radar waveforms, and to discuss the relationship is defined by the following:
between radar measuremenits and the so-called "uncer-
tainty" relation. The material presented in this paper is
an application of the basic studies reported in the litera- (7r) 2 f2 S(f) 'df
ture'-' concerning the theoretical measurement accura- j3- (2)
f S(f) '2df
*
Received by the PGANE, June 16, 1960.
t Research Div., Electronic Communications, Inc., Timonium,
Md. The parameter i is 27r times the rms deviation of the
I P. M.
Woodward, "Probability and Information Theory with energy spectrum with respect to zero frequency. It is
Applications to Radar," McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York,
N. Y.; 1953. similar to the effective bandwidth defined by Gabor.6
2 R. Manasse, "Range and Velocity Accuracy from Radar
Measurements," Lincoln Lab., M.I.T., Lexington, Mass., unpub-
However, care should be exercised in its interpretation,
lished internal report; February, 1955 (not generally available). since it is not related in a simple manner to the ordinary
I V. A. Kotel'nikov, "The Theory of Optimum Noise Immunity,"
McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, N. Y. ch. 6; 1959.
definition of bandwidth used by the electrical engineer.
4D. Slepian, "Estimation of signal parameters in the presence of In the definition of 3, S(f) is the Fourier transform of
noise," IRE TRANS. ON INFORMATION THEORY, Vol. IT-3, pp. 68-89;
March, 1954.
5 A. J. Mallinckrodt and T. E. Sollenberger, "Optimum pulse-
time determination," IRE TRANS. ON INFORMATION THEORY, vol. 6 D. Gabor, "Theory of communicationis," J. IEE (London),
IT-3, pp. 151-159; March, 1954. pt. III, vol. 93, pp. 429-441; 1946.

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124 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON AERONAUTICAL AND NAVIGATIONAL ELECTRONICS December

the time waveform s(t), or
For radar, the time waveform is the low-frequency
modulation (video signal) accompanying the carrier.
Eq. (1) or its equivalent has been derived by Wood-
ward,' Manasse,' and Kotel'nikov3 using the concept of
inverse probability, by Slepian4 on the basis of the like-
lihood function, and by 'Mallinckrodt and Sollenberger5
using the calculus of variations. The chief assumptions
used in these derivations are that the errors are small,
and the signal-to-noise ratios are large. These are not
usually restricting assumptions in practice, since large
signal-to-noise ratios are also required for reliable de-
tection,7 and the errors must usually be small if mean-
ingful radar measurements are to be obtained.
The denominator of (1) is equal to the signal energy
E, and by Parseval's theorem
f S(f) 2df = f s2(t)dt = E. (4)
Applying the Fourier transform relation of (3), the defi- perfectly rectangular pulse of width r, but that the
nition of 32 given by (2) results in the followinig equiva- bandwidth is limited to a finite value B as shown in
lent expressions:
132E - (2r)2f f2 S(f) |2df - s(t)s"(t)dt
- f [s (5) ample anid
It has been shown by M\Ianasse2 that the rms error bf for /2 (2) extend, in this case, from -B/2 to +B/2 in-
in the measurement of frequency may also be expressed
in a fashion similar to the time delay error, or
where
Eqs. (1) and (6) are used in this paper to obtain ex-
pressions for the time delay and Doppler frequency
S(f) = s(t)e- 2'rf dt. measurement errors for representative radar waveforms.
The rms range error 8R and the rms relative velocity
error bv may be found from
c x
6R = -T, (8a) 3v = -f (8b)
2 2
where X is the wavelength of the transmitted signal.
AccURACY OF A RECTANGULAR PULSE
The computation of 32 for a perfectly rectangular
pulse one with zero rise time and zero fall time re-
sults in m2= cc. This implies that the minimum rms
range error for a perfectly rectangular pulse is zero, and
that the range measurement can be made with no error.
In practice, however, pulses are not perfectly rectangu-
lar, since a zero rise time or a zero fall time requires an
infinite bandwvidth. Finite bandwidths result in finite
rise times and finiite 132.
In order to obtain the range error for a practical "rec-
tangular" pulse, it will be assumed that the spectrum
of the pulse is of the form S(f) =sin 7rfr/rf, as with the
Fig. t. This is equivalent to passing a perfectly rec-
tangular pulse through a filter of width B. The time
waveform of the output will be a pulse of width approxi-
mately r, but with leading and trailing edges of finite
a band-limited frequenicy spectrum. An ex-
slope
(t)]2di.
of the shape of a bandwidth-limited rectangular
pulse is showni in Fig. 2. The integrals in the expression
1 B
(6)
a(2E/No) 12
ox cz
(2)2 t2s2(t)dt l:K

fx
a2 =
(7)
sl(t)dt
-x
Fig. 1-Spectrtim of a bandwidth-limited "'rectangular' puilse.
The parameter is 2ir times the rms deviation of the a

signal waveform from the mean epoch which is taken

to be at t = 0.
The error expressions given above represent the mini-
mum possible, assuming that the signals are processed
in an optimal manner in a matched filter or cross-corre-
lation receiver.
T/ME
I J. MarcuLm, "A Statistical Theory of Target Detection by
I.
Pulsed Radar: Mathematical Appendix," RAND Corp., Santa Fig. 2 Shape of "rectanigular" pulse after passing through
Monica, Calif., Rept. No. RM-753; Julv, 1948. a bandwidth-limited rectangular filter.

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1960 Skolnik: Theoretical Accuracy of Radar Measurements 125

stead of from - x to + cc. Thus, the effective band- It should be noted that the pulsewidth r in the above
width is expression is that of the perfectly rectangular pulse be-
rBl/2 fore bandwidth limiting. It is a good approximation to
(27r)2f f2 sin2 (Irfr)/ r2f2df the width of the bandwidth-limited pulse for large Br.
-B,/2 The same expression may be derived in a simple man-
B/2 ner without recourse to (1), obtained from statistical

B/2
sin2 (wfr)1+2f2df mathematical concepts. Consider a pulsed waveform as
shown in Fig. 4 in which the range is determiined by
I rBr - sin 7rBr measuring the time at which the leading edge of the
T2 Si(rBT) + (cos rB-r 1) rBr video pulse crosses a threshold.8 The "rectangular" pulse
is shown by the solid curve. Its shape is not perfectly
where Si(x) is the sine integral function defined by rectangular, but has finite rise and decay times. The ef-
fect of noise is to perturb the shape of the pulse and to
fX(sin u)udu. shift the time of threshold crossing as shown by the
dashed curve. The maximum slope, or rate of rise, of the
leading edge of a dc rectangular pulse of amplitude A
A plot of /32T2 as a function of fT is shown in Fig. 3. It at the output of a video filter is A tr, where tr is the rise
may be seen from (9) or the plot of Fig. 3 that as time. For large signal-to-noise ratios the slope of the
Br- >x, the product 32T2-* 2BT or pulse corrupted by noise is essenitially the same as the
slope of the uncorrupted pulse. From Fig. 4 the slope
2~z 2B/r for large Br. (10) of the pulse in noise may be written as n(t)/ATr, where
The plot of Fig. 2 shows that f2r2 -2Br is a reasoniably n(t) is the noise voltage in the vicinity of the threshold-
good approximation for almost any value of Br. There- crossing and ATr is the error in the time delay measure-
mnent. Equating the two expressions for the slope gives
fore, the rms error in the time delay measurement for a
rectangular pulse of width and limited to a bandwidth r
n(t)
B is approximately ATr = (12)
A/tr
\1/2 (bandwidth-limited
(1 1) or
¼4BEI ATO, rectangular pulse).
tr
(ATr2) 12=82= sTr = (13)
16
(A2/- )I2
I5
/
/ If the rise time t. of the pulse is limited by the ban-d-
/ -
14

/
/ width B of the IF amplifier, then tr, 11B.9 Since
/3 / No==n2/B and A2r =2E, (13) may be expressed as
12 /
/ ( T 1/2
// /
/
bTt == (2;tr )\I1/2
- (14)
2E/l\yo \2BE/Ao J
C,)

(K
9 _
"RECTANGULAR PULSE

7-

6
L4j

5!

3 11
2L

I.Z IIIIf I Fig. 4-Measurement of time delav usiilg the leadiing

O ,5 / /5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 4.5 5 55 6 65 7
-

75 (or trailing) edge of the pulse.

Br- SPECTRAL BANDWIDTH X PUL SE WIDTH

Fig. 3 Plot of 032r2 as a function of Br for a banidwidth-limited 8 S. Goldman, "Frequency Analysis, Moduilation, and Noise,"
"rectangular" pulse: d3=effective bandwidth, B =freqUency banid McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, N. Y., p. 281; 1948.
occupied by pulse spectrum, T=pulsewTidth. 9 Ibid., sec. 4.5.

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126 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON AERONAUTICAL AND NAVIGATIONAL ELECTRONICS December
If a similar time delay measurement is made at the duration. In practice, any waveform must be limited in
trailing edge of the pulse, and if the two measurements time so that a2 will be < cc. The frequency error (or a2)
may be assumed to be independent, the combined meas- for a waveform with rectangular spectrum may be found
urement results in an improvement of \/2 in accuracy or in a manner similar to that employed for computing 2
/ T 1/ 2 for a bandwidth-limited rectangular pulse, since the
waveform may be considered as a time-limited (sin t)/t
T 4BE )I1o (15)
pulse. The frequency error for such a waveform will be
which is the same expression as (11). The equivalence similar to that of (11), but with the roles of B and r re-
of (11) and (15) seems to imply that the measurement of versed. This is applied later (31) to the pulse compres-
time delay by the simple technique of observing the sion waveformn.
crossing of a threshold results in the same theoretical
accuracy as if the waveform had been processed by a so-
called "optimum" receiver based on more sophisticated ACCURACY OF TRAPEZOIDAL PULSE
concepts.
The rms error in time delay as given by (13) indicates The rms time delay error for a trapezoidal-shaped
that the error is dependent on the rise time (or signal pulse of width 2 T, across the top, flat portion, and rise
bandwidth) for constant amplitude A. Thus, the width time and fall times of T2 may be shown fronm (1) and
of the pulse is not an important parameter in determin- (2) to be
ing range accuracy. The same conclusion may be
reached from an examination of (11) or (15). If the bTrT
=
T226+ 3T,T2i)12 (trapezoidal pulse). (18)
6E/N
pulse width r is increased or decreased, the energy E
increases or decreases accordingly, and the rms error
remains unchanged, providing the amplitude remains When the trapezoidal pulse approaches in shape the rec-
constant. An improvement in accuracy must be ob- tangular pulse, that is, whein T»>>T2, (18) becomes
tained by increasing the banidwidth, rather than de-
creasing the pulsewidth. bTr ;:1 /TTT2 (1/2 (19)
The Doppler accuracy of a rectangular pulse may be r 2EINo70
obtained by the application of (6) and (7). For a per-
fectly rectangular pulse of width 7, a2 may be shown The bandwidth B is approximately the reciprocal of the
to be 7r2T2 3 so that the rms error is rise time T2, anid if T,~- 2, where T is the pulse width,
the error is
- =
A/V3
r(2E No)i12 (rectangular pulse). (16) TT( /2
6Tr~ {1 (20)
\4BE/IAo
Eq. (16) shows that the longer the pulsewidth, the bet-
ter the accuracy. For a bandwidth-limited rectangular which is the same as that deriveJ previously- for the
pulse, as defined previously, (7) gives bandwidth-limited rectanigular pulse.

( cos 7r-BT- 3 8(cos7i7rL3b-1) 2 sin 7rBT

7r2T2 7rBBr (7r7B T) (i-Br)2
(rB-r) 2-+
Si(7B)

3 t
-r)3
Si(rBr) +- (cos wBr - 1),7rBTr J
~-- (17)

In the limit as Br-- cx, the value of a2 in (17) approaches By letting Ti->0 in (18), the time delay error for a
2r2j2/3, which is the value obtained for a perfectly rec- triangular-shaped pulse is obtained. Calling the width
tangular pulse. at the base of the triangle TB 2T2, the rms error is
It should be noted that the value a2 for a perfectly TB
rectangular pulse is finite even though its value of /32 iS
infinite. The value of a2 will be infinite, however, for a
bTr =
_V2(2E TO)i/2 (triangular pulse). (21)

waveform with a perfectly rectangular frequency spec- Applying (6) and (7), the rms error in the measure-
trum, corresponding to a (sin t)/t waveformi of inifinite ment of Doppler frequency with a trapezoidal pulse is

(2T213
+ 2Ti)I/2
(trapeozidal pulse). (22)
T T)3
(2Ti2TIT+ +2 2 12
/

3 3 15 3 J

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1960 Skolnik: Theoretical Accuracy of Radar Measurements 127

This expression also reduces to that for a rectangular tion is called pulse compression. Frequency'0"' or phase'2
pulse (16) as the trapezoidal pulse becomes more rec- modulations are often used for this purpose.
tangular; that is, when T1=T 2>>T2. One form of pulse compression waveform is a rec-
For the triangular pulse, we set T, =0 in (22) and let tangular pulse of width r whose carrier fo is linearly
2T2=1-B. The rms error is then modulated in frequency over a bandwidth B. The RF
waveform is
(10) 1/2
jf =
7rTB (2EIN7\o)
rT(tE 10)1-
1/ 2
(triangular pulse). (23) s(t) - A cos (2rfot + irBt2); --r2 < t < r12. (27)
Neglecting the fine-grain range information' in the car-
ACCURACY OF GAUSSIAN PULSE rier, and using only the low frequency modulation of
Let the shape of the pulse be described by the Gaus- (27) (as is customary in radar measurements), the value
sian function of f2 for the linear FM waveform is
s(t) = exp [- 1.384Dt2 T2] (24) wr2B2 7rB2sin7rB-r rB2S(QrBr)
3 2BT (2Br) 3/2
where r is the half-power pulse width. The Gaussian- I32 (28)
shaped pulse is sometimes specified in those applica- 1 + C(7rBr)
tions where interferenice with equipments operating at (2BT) 1/2
nearby frequencies is to be avoided. The Gaussian
where S(Ut) and C(u) are the Fresnel sine and cosinie in-
pulse is well suited for this purpose, sitnce its spectrum tegrals, respectively. As Br-s o, /2--7r2B2 3, which is
decays rapidly on either side of the carrier frequency.
The rms ranige error for this pulse is the value one would expect from a waveform with a uni-
form spectrum over the frequency band B. (Cook" has
shown that for Br large the spectrum of a linear FM
5 Tr~~
1.18(2E/ No) 1/2 pulse compression waveform approaches the rectangu-
lar spectrum.) Therefore,
1.18
(Gaussian pulse) (25) 6T=
V/3 (FM\I pulse compression). (29)
7rB(2E/No)"2l r -B(2E /1AT) 1/2
where B is the half-power bandwidth of the Gaussian The tinme waveform from the output of the pulse com-
pulse spectruimn. The corresponding rms frequency error pressioni network is of the form (sin x)/x. By analogy
iS to the bandwidth-limited rectangular pulse, the rms fre-
quency error for a time-limited (sin x)/x pulse (at the
1.18 output of the matched filter) is for large BT,
f
7r'r(2EIXN0)"2 B 1 /F2
(30)
=
AT0) 1/2
1.18(2EN
B
- (Gaussian pulse). (26)
af =4Elo (FMI pulse compression).
Pulse compression is used as a means for improving
ACCURACY OF PULSE COMPRESSION the range accuracy of a long pulse. Therefore, it is of
If a radar is to have good detection capability or ac- interest to compare the rms error obtained with a linear
curate measurement capability, the energy contained FM pulse compression waveform (29) with a bandwidth
within the pulse mlust be large. Large pulse energies limited "rectangular" pulse (15) occupying the same
may be obtained with a high-peak pulse power and/or bandwidth B and of the same duration r. The ratio of
a long pulse durationi. In practical radar systems, the (15) and (29) is
peak power is ofteni limi-ited by breakdown in the trans- "Rectangular" pulse rms time-delay error
mission lines and other RF components. Hence, the
pulse duration often must be long if the energy per FM pulse compression rms time-delay error
pulse is to be large. Unfortunately, (11) shows that the - AS_(BT)"2.
larger the width of a rectangular pulse, the poorer will (31)
V\6
be the timne delay or ranige measurement accuracy. The
range accuracy of a radar waveform, however, is deter- For example, if Br = 100, the theoretical rms time-delay
mined by the rms extent of its spectrum S(f) so that a error available with the FM pulse compression radar
long pulse will be able to yield accurate range measure-
10 R. Kronert, "Impulsverdictung," Nachrichtentecknik, vol. 7,
ment if some sort of miiodulation is applied to increase pp. 148-152, 162; April, 1957. Also, pp. 305-308; July, 1957.
the spectral width. The technique of modulating a long 11 C. E. Cook, "Pulse compression key to more efficient radar
pulse to increase its spectral width and, hence, its 3 for transmission," PROC. IRE, vol. 48, pp. 310-316; March, 1960.
12 WV. Mc.C. Siebert, "A radar detection philosophy," IRE TRANS.
the purpose of improving the range accuracy or resolu- ON INFORMATION THEORY, vol. IT-2, pp. 204-221; September, 1956.

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128 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON AERONAUTICAL AND NAVIGATIONAL ELECTRONICS December

waveform is about thirteen times that of a similar pulse fine grain information were used, may be showni to be
without modulation.
If a similar comparison is made of the frequency er- /2 = (2rfo)2 + /32 Z(2wfrfo))2 (32)
rors, it is found that the error with the linear FM wave-
form is greater than that of the bandwidth-limited rec- where fo is the carrier frequency, and /32 is the value of
tangular pulse by the same factor, (7r/V6) (Br)1"2. /2 derived from the video waveform as considered
Hence, this particular pulse compression waveform im- throughout this paper. The improved measurement ac-
proves the range accuracy by a certain amount as com- curacy possible with the use of fine grain information is
pared with a pulse without pulse compression, but it seldom taken advantage of because of the ambiguities.
does so at the expense of frequency accuracy.
The radar waveform which yields the nmost accurate ANGULAR AccURACY
time-delay measurement, all other factors being equal, The theoretical rms error in the measuremiienit of
is the one with the largest value of effective bandwidth angle may also be obtained in a manniier similar to that
/. If the bandwidth is limited by external factors to a for range or velocity measuremenit errors."-17 The anal-
value B, the spectrum which produces the largest ,B and, ogy between range or velocity errors and angular errors
hence, the most accurate range measurement would be comes about because the Fourier transform describes
one which crowded all of its energy at the two ends of the relationship between the aperture distribution and
the band; that is the radiation pattern of an anteinnia in a maniner similar
to the relationship between frequency spectrum and the
S(f) = b(f-fo - B2) + 5(f-fo + B12) time waveform. The one-dimensional radiation pattern
where fo is the carrier frequenicy and 6(x) is the delta of an antenna may be expressed as'"
function. The corresponding tinme waveform consists of f D12
two sine wave3 at frequenciesfo±B/2. This is the two- Gv (0) = A (x) exp /27r(x,/X) sin O]dx, (33)
frequency CW radar waveform discussed by Hansen'3 D/2
and by Skolnik.14 The two-frequency CWV radar spec-
trum (and its corresponding waveform) are not always where Gv(6) is the antenna (voltage) gaini as a fuinction
suitable in practice, since it leads to ambiguous meas- of the angle 6, A(x) is the distribution across the aper-
urements if the frequency separation B between the two ture in the x dimension, and D is the width of the an-
sine waves is greater than c 2Rb, where c is the velocity tenna in the x dimension. When the angle 0 is small,
of light and Rb is the maxinmum unambiguous range.'4 sin 06a.. and (34) is recognized as an inverse Fourier
If the range measurement is to be unambiguous, the transform:
spectrum must be continuous over the bandwidth B.
Even with a continuous spectrum, minor lobes or spuri- Gv(0) = f A (x) exp [j27rx6 X]dx. (34)
ous responses may be produced in the time waveform -D/2

which could interfere with the interpretationi of the

measurements. For example, the uniform spectrum This is anialogous to the inverse Fourier transform relat-
gives rise to a (sin t)/t time waveform with first side- ing the frequency spectrum S(fl and the time wraveform.
lobes (on either side of the main peak) 13.2 db below s(t), or
the main peak. A concave spectrum will produce better
accuracy but higher sidelobes, while a convex spectrum s(t) = S(f) exp [j27rft]df. (35)
produces lower sidelobes at the expense of poorer range _00

accuracy. The selection of the optimum waveform for

radar measurement must therefore be a compromise be- As the anitennia scans at a uniformii anigular rate ce, the
tween the requirements of accuracy and ambiguity. received signal voltage from a fixed poinit source will be
In all of the previous discussions it was assumed that proportional to Gv(6) = Gv(w,t) anid may be conisidered
the radar measurement is based on the video waveformi, a time wavefornm. If 6/X in (34) is identified with t in
and not the RF or IF waveform. Range measurements (35), and if x is identified with f, the theoretical rmns
using the RF or IF waveforms are more accurate but error in angle imieasuremenit may be obtainied by anialogy
they also lead to ambiguous results. The ambiguities are
spaced a half an RF wavelength. The range information 15 R. Manasse, "An Analysis of Angular Acuracies from Radar
contained in the RF or IF signal is called the fine grain Measurements," Lincoln Lab., M.I.T., ILexinigton, Ma.ss., Group
range inforimiation by Woodward.' The value of /2, if the Rept. 32-24; December, 1955 (not generally ax ailable).
16 E. R. Hiller, "Available Source Iniformation in Receiving
Apertures," Res. Lab. of Electronics, M.I.T., Cambridge, Mass.,
Tech. Rept. No. 3; September, 1956 (not generally available).
13 L. N. Ridenour, "Radar Systems Engineering," M.I.T. Rad. 17 R. Manasse, "Maximum angular accuiracy of tracking a radio
Lab. Ser., McGrawx-Hill Book Co., Iiuc., New York, N. Y., vol. 1, star by lobe comparison,' IRE TRANS. ON ANTENNAS AND PROPA-
sec. 5.7, 1947. GATION, Vol. AP-8, pp. 50-56; January, 1960.
14 M. 1. Skolnik, "An analysis of bistatic radar," submitted for 18 J. D. Kraus, "Anteiinas," McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New
publication in these TRANSACTIONS. York, N. Y., sec. 12-10; 1950.

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1960
to the time delay accuracy, or
where 'y, the effective aperture width, is defined by
ly2
Therefore, the theoretical rms angular error for an
tenna with a rectangular aperture distribution is
a(O/X)
where OB iS the half beamwidth. The relative error
6(0/X)/6B iS seen E/No only. The
formulas derived previously for time delay or frequency
errors may also be applied to the determination of an-
gular measurement errors by analogy.
In the above, the angular measurement was based on
the one-way voltage gain as might correspond to the
case of a receiving antenna measuring the angle of ar-
rival of a plane wavefront. In the case of radar meas-
urements, the received signal amplitude is proportional
to the two-way rather than the one-way voltage gain
patterni; and so, the radar angular accuracy should be
different from that given above, but no calculations
have been made of this case.
UNCERTAINTY RELATION
The so-called "uncertainty" relation of radar states
that the product of the rms bandwidth (3) occupied by
a signal wraveform and the rms time duration (a) must
be greater than, or equal to, r; that is.1
Eq. (39), the radar "uncertainty" relationship, may be
derived from the definitions of : and given by (2) and
(7) and by applying the Schwartz inequality. It is a con-
sequence of the Fourier transform relationship between
a time waveform and its spectrum and may be derived
without recourse to noise considerations. The use of the
word "uncertainty" is a misnomer, for there is nothing
uncertain about the "un-certainty" relation of (39). It
states the well-knowni mathematical fact that a narrow
waveform yields a wide spectrunm and a wide waveform
yields a narrow spectrum, and both the time waveform
and the frequency spectrum cannot be made arbitrarily
small simultaneously.
The relation of (39) is useful, however, as an indica-
tion of the accuracy with which time delay and fre-
quency may be measured simultaneously. The product
of the rms time delay error (1) and the rms frequency
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Skolnik: Theoretical Accuracy of Radar Measurements 129
error (6) is
1 1
a(O/X) = y(2EINo)"2 (36) a Tr,f = (40)
/3ai(2E,lNo)
Substituting (39) in (40) gives
(2 7r) 2 X2 A (x) 2dx
-00
x 3Tr8f <r(2E/No)
= . (3 7) (El
A(x) 12dx This states that the time delay and the frequency may be
-00
simultaneously measured to as small a theoretical error as
one desires by designing the radar to yield a sufficiently
an-
large ratio of signal energy (E) to noise power per cycle
(No); or, for fixed EINo, to select a radar waveform which
V3X 3
results in a large value of O3a. Large doa products require
= waveforms long in duration and of wide bandwidth.
7rD(2E/No) 1 /2 (2E/ N0)" /2 The poorest waveform for obtaining accurate time
delay and frequency measurements simultaneously is
power
the one for which 3a= r. It may be shown that this cor-
to be a function of
responds to the Gaussian-shaped pulse. The triangular-
shaped pulse is little better, since its ,Ba product is
V/6/5r. The doa product for the linear FM pulse com-
pression waveform is 7r(2Brl3)1I2 and is the same as that
of the bandwidth limited rectangular pulse with Br
large.
It should be noted that the radar "uncertainty" rela-
tion has the opposite interpretation of the uncertainty
principle of quantum mechanics. The latter states that
the position anid the velocity of an electron or other
atomic particles cannot be simultaneously determined
to any degree of accuracy desired. Precise determina-
tion of one parameter can only be had at the expense of
the other. This is not so in radar. Both position (range
or time delay) and velocity (Doppler frequency) may,
in theory, be determined simultaneously if the doa prod-
uct or the EINo ratio are sufficiently large. The two un-
certainty principles apply to different phenonmena, and
the radar principle based on classical concepts should
fOa > r. (39) not be confused with the physics principle used to de-
scribe quantum mechanical effects. In radar there is no
fundamental limit to the minimum value of the TbTf
a product, since the radar systems designer is free to
choose as large a O3a product (by proper selection of the
waveform) and EINo ratio as he desires, or can afford.
His limits are practical ones, such as power limitations
or the inability to meet tolerances. In the quantum me-
chanical case, on the other hand, the observer does not
have control over his system as does the radar designer,
since the SOa product of a quantum particle is fixed by
nature and not by the observer.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The critical comments and advice of Dr. Roger
Manasse of the Mitre Corporation and Dr. Herman
Blasblag of Electronic Communications, Inc., during
the preparation of this paper are gratefully acknowl-
edged.