Principles of Radar

NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I

2
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Fundamentals

• Range (Distance from own ship)

• Bearing (Angle from own ship’s heading)

• ARPA - Collision Avoidance (Tells us what other vessels are doing)

• How does the radar see other vessels in rain and sea clutter

• Main radar Components

• Factors affecting the performance of the radar

3
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
To Start With, Think of Microwaves like Light
• Transmitter – Provides a powerful source of
microwaves – needed to achieve range performance

• Antenna- Focuses the microwaves into a narrow beam.

• The microwaves are reflected off targets (vessels,

buoys, land etc.).

• Antenna – Collects the reflected microwaves from

objects in its path.

• Receiver- detects and amplifies the received signals.

• Display Processor – removes the unwanted signals, e.g.

clutter, but keeps those from targets and displays the
results on the screen.

However: The Radar Energy is Not Continuous but is

4
Pulsed at Up to 3000 Pulses Per Second
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Range

• Imagine now just a pulse of microwave energy.

• From the time each pulse is sent out - time how long it

takes to receive a reflection from an object.

• We know the speed of microwaves (300,000 km per sec).

time

• Distance travelled = time x speed.

• Therefore:

• Range of target = half total distance travelled by pulse

Radar Automatically Calculates to

Range of the Target
5
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Bearing

• At any given moment the radar display knows the direction the antenna is

pointing with respect to the ships head.

• Heading Marker pulse is sent from the top unit to the display once every

antenna revolution.

• In addition 4096 bearing pulses are sent to the display for each revolution

of the antenna.

Radar Automatically Calculates the

Bearing of the Target
6
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
ARPA – Automatic Radar Plotting Aid
• We now know a target’s position (i.e. range and bearing)

• A short time later we know its new position.

• The speed and direction of the target can be calculated.

• Therefore…

…… its possible to estimate where the target will be in say 5 minutes.

• Also, we know our own speed and direction and …

• where we will be in 5 minutes.

• If the two points coincide !!!! Collision.

Radar Automatically Calculates The Speed and Direction of all ARPA Targets
and Those of Own Ship to Provide Important Anti Collision Information
7
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
 Clutter, and Processes used
to Suppress it

8
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
What is Clutter?

Radar energy is reflected back to the antenna from: Buoys, Vessels,

Land etc. – These are called ‘Targets’

9
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
What is Clutter?
Unfortunately, radar pulses are also reflected from the sea

• It is most important that a Radar should be effective at removing unwanted clutter, to show
the targets

• S band Radars are typically 3 times better than X band radars in suppressing Clutter in
heavy seas, where small targets are masked by water spray

• Rain also produces Clutter that can mask Targets

10
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
What does Clutter look like?

Radar image with no clutter suppression applied

11
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
What does Clutter look like?
.
Distance
0
0 region of rain
Intensity of the
return signal

target

target in rain

targets in clutter
Diagram shows a
sea clutter region typical radar return
Main ‘bang’
i.e. Pulse from .
Magnetron

Sea & Rain clutter can be processed in one of two ways:

1.Manual adjustment of Anti-clutter sea & rain.

2 Automatic clutter rejection – known as Auto or Clearscan.

12
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
How do we suppress Clutter?
Manual Clutter Suppression

– Anti-Clutter Sea
Anti-clutter sea generates a waveform that attempts to match the size and slope of the
clutter return and is ‘subtracted’ from the original radar return. See below.

Anti-clutter sea waveform

Result -

13
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
How do we suppress Clutter?
Automatic Clutter Suppression

In this mode we try and automatically generate an ‘underlying’ waveform representing

the returned radar signal and then “subtract” this waveform from the original radar
return.

Auto Clutter waveform

Result -

14
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Sea Clutter Suppression
Manual Anti-Sea Clutter Auto Anti-Sea Clutter

15
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
No Sea Clutter Suppression

16
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Rain Clutter Suppression

Using Manual Anti-Clutter Rain Suppression

• Anti-Clutter Rain suppresses signals that are not changing much.

• As the control is increased, an increasing proportion of the signal is

affected, revealing more of the target in the rain covered region.

Original video

Increasing a/c rain

17
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
 System Components and Factors
Affecting Performance

18
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
 The Transmitter
• The Transmitter transmits very short pulses of microwave energy. Typically 1µs (one
microsecond) long pulse to 0.05µs short pulse.

• Note that 0.05µs can also be written as 50ns (50 nano seconds)

• In the transmitter, the source of the RF power is the magnetron, which is switched on and off at a
fast rate by the modulator, which controls both pulse width and pulse repetition frequency (prf).

• The average power of a radar transmitter is the product of Peak Power x PRF x Pulse Width.

eg, for VMFT 25kW operating at 1700Hz PRF and 0.05µs pulse width.

Average Power = 25000 x 1700 x .050 x 10-6 = 2W

• It is the average power of the transmitter which influences the maximum range of the radar, not
peak power. E.g. by increasing the average power of a radar by a factor of 2, the range will be
increased by 20%.

19
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
 Rotating Antenna
• A rotating antenna which produces a fan-shaped beam. The height of the fan is the vertical

beamwidth, typically 25°, Marine radar must have vertical beamwidth of at least 20° to take into

account the rolling motion of the ship.

• The width of the fan is the horizontal beamwidth, typically 1-2°. The horizontal beamwidth

determines the bearing resolution of the radar.

• Note: The range resolution of the radar is determined by the pulse width of the transmitted

pulse. Short pulse can display more detail at short ranges, but longer pulses are required for

good long range performance.

• The narrower the horizontal and vertical beamwidth, the greater the transmitted power focussed

on the target and also the greater the received power is reflected back to the antenna.

20
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Relationship Between Antenna Size and Beam Width
Antenna Analogy to Light
ISOTROPIC LIGHT BULB

Radiates in all directions equally. Radiates in virtually all directions.

Example: Antenna in a mobile phone is approximately

isotropic.
- it radiates in virtually all directions

SHORT ANTENNA SMALL DEVICE

Example: 4ft X-Band antenna - wide beamwidth Example: Torch - wide beamwidth
+
|
4f 2° Beamwidth
t |
+
Beamwidth defined at ½ power level

LONG ANTENNA LARGE DEVICE

Example: 8ft X-Band antenna - narrow beamwidth Example: Searchlight - narrow beamwidth

+
8f 1° Beamwidth
t +

Beamwidth defined at ½ power level

21
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Back to Basics
LIGHT BULB

Radiates virtually all directions (isotropic).

LIGHT BULB WITH REFLECTOR

(eg, torch, car headlamp, searchlight) Reflecto
r

Light concentrated into small angles. This forms the beam.

Intensity in the beam is higher than for light bulb alone.

 This is known as ‘GAIN’

The narrower the beam, the greater the gain.

For Antennas Gain is defined as the intensity at the peak of the beam compared to
the intensity of an isotropic antenna (for the same power source, eg a 25kW
magnetron)

dB relative to isotropic = dBi

22
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Basic Marine Radar System –The Major Components
BridgeMaster/VisionMaster Antennas

PLAN VIEW SIDE VIEW (X-Band Antenna)

Microwave energy from magnetron fills waveguide

Antenna Metal Guide

Waveguide Case

Antenna
Height
Antenna Vertical beam
4 inches
Case formed in
this direction
Waveguide

Horizontal beam
formed in
this direction
Antenna Length
eg, 4ft, 6ft, 8ft,
9ft or 12ft

Energy leaks from

slots cut in waveguide

Horizontal beam width is narrow because antenna length is large.

Vertical beam width is wide because antenna height is small
23
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
The Receiver

• A sensitive microwave receiver which must detect and amplify the very weak signals received by
the antenna.

• Every receiver generates noise (unwanted signal) and it is the level of this noise that the
received signal must ‘overcome’ to be detected and displayed. E.g. by reducing the receiver
noise by half, the radar range will be increase by 20%.

• PULSE WIDTH: The shorter the pulse, the wider the transmitted bandwidth. The bandwidth of
the receiver should be matched to the pulse width of the transmitter. Therefore the bandwidth of
the receiver also plays an important part in the radar to produce the best signal to noise ratio.

• On short pulse widths the bandwidth of the receiver is generally wide, eg for a 50ns pulse the

option bandwidth is 20MHz, whereas for a 1µSec pulse, the option bandwidth is 1MHz.

25
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
The Basic Radar Equation!
The maximum range performance of radar is given by:

P x PW x prf x G 2
x l2 x a
Range = 4
1.2
(in metres) NF x x TRL x KT x Af x 4p3
PW

where P = Peak Power (Watts)

PW = Transmitter Pulse Width in seconds
prf = Pulse Repetition Frequency in Hz
G = Antenna Gain in dB
2
l = Transmission Wavelength in m
a = Cross section area of target

NF = Noise figure of the receiver in dB

1.2L = Ideal Bandwidth of the receiver as a function of pulse duration.
PW
TR = Two way transmission loss in waveguide, rotating joint etc in dB
KT = Temperature of the thermal noise of the radar system (figure used is 4 x 10-21W/Hz)
Af = Attenuation factor is space (rain, fog, snow, mist etc) in dB

26
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
So What Does the Equation Mean

Transmitter Power - Doubling the average transmitter power of a radar only

gives a 20% greater range performance. (Assuming not
horizon limited.)

Receiver Noise Figure - Halving the noise figure of the radar receiver by gives a
20% greater range performance. (Assuming not horizon
limited.)

Antenna Beamwidth - Doubling the length of a radar antenna halves the

horizontal beamwidth and gives a 40% greater range
performance. (Assuming not horizon limited.)

27
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
So What Does the Equation Mean (cont’d)

Rain - For small targets in rain of 4mm or 8mm per hour, the S-
band Radar performance will be approximately 25% and
40% greater than that of the X-band radar.

Waveguide Losses - The range performance of a radar will be reduced by about

25% when a 20m length of waveguide is used between the
transceiver and scanner unit.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clear Weather - An X-band Radar on a calm sea and in absolute clear weather
conditions free of moisture gives a 15% better range
performance than an S-band Radar, all parameters being the
same.

28
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
Add the Complication of the Curvature of the Earth

Note: It is not possible to overcome the Radar Horizon effect, for example by improving
the Radar. There is no actual benefit to be obtained by providing very long range scales
on the Radar display, such as 96nm or greater
29
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I
30
NORTHROP GRUMMAN SPERRY MARINE PROPRIETARY LEVEL I