Introduction to Radar Systems
Radar Transmitter/Receiver
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061902 -1 Disclaimer of Endorsement and Liability
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Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -2 Outline
• Introduction
• Radar Transmitter
• Radar Waveform Generator and Receiver
• Radar Transmitter/Receiver Architecture
• Summary
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -3 Radar Block Diagram
We will cover this particular part of the radar in this lecture
Propagation Waveform Transmitter Medium Generator
Duplexer Target Cross Pulse Doppler Section Receiver A / D Antenna Compression Processing
Console / Tracking & Display Detection Parameter Estimation Recording
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -4 Simplified Radar Transmitter/Receiver System Block Diagram
High Power Transmit Sections Low Power Transmit Section (100’s of W to 1’s MW) (10’s of mW to 1 W)
High Power Amplifier
Waveform Duplexer Filter Generator
Low Noise Amplifier 00101111010 Filter Receiver A/D
Low Power Receive Sections (μW to mW)
• Radar transmitter and receiver can be divided into two important subsystems – High power transmitter sections – Low power sections Radar waveform generator and receiver
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -5 Radar Range Equation Revisited Parameters Affected by Transmitter/Receiver
• Radar range equation for search (S/N = signal to noise ratio)
t AP t seav σ Pav = average power S/N = 4 Αe = antenna area L T k R 4π Ω R k T s L ts = scan time for Ω Pav = average power σ = radar cross section • S/N of target can be enhanced by Ω = solid angle searched R = target range – Higher transmitted power Pav Ts = system temperature – Lower system losses L L = system loss
– Minimize system temperature Ts
The design of radar transmitter/receiver affects these three parameters directly
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -6 Outline
• Introduction
• Radar Transmitter Overview – High Power Amplifier
• Radar Waveform Generator and Receiver
• Radar Transmitter/Receiver Architecture
• Summary
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -7 Power Amplification Process
Driver Amplifier(s)
Low Power Signal (from WFG)
PAPA 11 PAPA 22 HPAHPA 33
PA = Power Amplifier HPA = High Power Amplifier
• Amplification occurs in multiple stages – Driver amplifiers – High power amplifier • Requirement for power amplifier – Low noise – Minimum distortion to input signal
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -8 Method to Obtain Higher Power
High Power Combiner
HPA
Antenna Antenna Driver Amp. Driver Amp. Waveform Waveform Σ HPA Generator Generator
1 – Single amplifier transmitter 2 – Parallel combining of HPA’s Single antenna Single antenna
• Higher transmitted power can be obtained by combining multiple amplifiers in parallel – Lower efficiency (due to combiner losses) – Increased complexity
HPA = High Power Amplifier
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -9 Types of High Power Amplifiers
• Vacuum tube amplifiers and solid state amplifiers
Vacuum Tube Solid State Amplifiers Amplifiers High Low Output Power (10 kW to 1 MW) (10’s to 100’s W) High Low Cost per Unit ($10’s K to $300 K) ($100’s )
Cost per Watt $1 – 3 Varied
Size Bulky and heavy Small foot print
• Dish antenna • Active array Applications • Passive array • Digital array
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -10 Average Power Output Versus Frequency Tube Amplifiers versus Solid State Amplifiers
106
Tube Amplifiers Dominate 104 Region of Competition
102
Solid State Amplifiers Dominate 1 Average Power (Watts)
10-2 .1 1 10 100 1000 Frequency (GHz)
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -11 Power Amplifier Examples
• Tube amplifiers – Klystrons – Travelling wave tubes
• Solid State amplifiers – Solid state power transistors
Criteria for choosing high power amplifier – Average power output as a function of frequency – Total bandwidth of operation – Duty cycle – Gain – Mean time between failure (MTBF) – etc…
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -12 MIT/LL Millstone Hill Radar Klystron Tubes (Vacuum Devices)
Output device Klystrons (2) Center Frequency 1295 MHz Bandwidth 8 MHz Peak Power 3 MW Average Power 120 kW Pulse Width 1 ms
Beam Width 0.6o
Antenna Diameter 84 ft
•• OriginallyOriginally designeddesigned inin earlyearly 1960’s1960’s
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -13 How Big are High Power Klystron Tubes ? Millstone Hill Radar Transmitter Room
VarianVarian X780X780 KlystronKlystron •• $400,000/tube$400,000/tube Waveguide output •• 77 ftft (height)(height) xx 1ft1ft (diameter)(diameter) •• 600600 lbslbs •• 3%3% dutyduty cyclecycle •• 4242 dBdB gaingain Waveguide Harmonic Filter •• 600W600W peakpeak inputinput drivedrive levellevel
Flex Waveguide Output flanges
200’ Spare Tube antenna waveguide
Vacuum Pump
Water Coolant Hoses, 70 Gal/min Power Amplifier Room 1 kW Peak Solid State Driver Amp.
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -14 Photograph of Traveling Wave Tubes Another Type of Tube Amplifiers
S Band X Band VTS-5753 VTX-5681C Center Freq : 3.3 GHz COUPLED CAVITY COUPLED CAVITY Center Freq : 10.0 GHz Bandwidth : 400 MHz TWT TWT Bandwidth : 1 GHz Peak Power : 160 kW Peak Power : 100 kW Duty Cycle : 8 % Duty Cycle : 35 % Gain : 43 dB Gain : 50 dB
~ 8 ft
S-Band Transmitter
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -15 Example of Solid State Transmitter Radar Surveillance Technology Experimental Radar (RSTER)
Driver Amp Module
Power Amp Module
•• 1414 channelschannels withwith 140140 kWkW totaltotal peakpeak powerpower –– 88 kWkW averageaverage powerpower •• EachEach channelchannel isis suppliedsupplied byby aa powerpower amplifieramplifier modulemodule –– 1010 kWkW peakpeak powerpower
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -16 Solid State Active Phased Array Radar PAVE PAWS
• PAVE PAWS – First all solid state active aperture electronically steered phased array radar – UHF Band – 1792 active transceiver T/R modules, 340 W of peak power each
Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission. Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission.
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -17 Outline
• Introduction
• Radar Transmitter Overview – High Power Amplifier – Duplexer
• Radar Waveform Generator and Receiver
• Radar Transmitter/Receiver Architecture
• Summary
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -18 Radar Transmitter/Receiver Timeline
Pulse Width
High Power Pulse
Receive Window A/D Samples Receiver
Radar PRI Duplexer Switch Transmit Receive Transmit Receive
• Sensitive radar receiver must be isolated from the powerful radar transmitter – Transmitted power typically 10 kW – 1 MW – Receiver signal power in 10’s μW – 1 mW • Isolation provided by duplexer switching
PRI = Pulse Repetition Interval
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -19 Duplexer Function
Antenna
Duplexer HPA • Transmitter ON – Connect antenna to X transmitter with low loss Limiter/Limiter/ Receiver – Protect receiver during SwitchSwitch transmit interval
Transmit Interval • Receiver ON – Connect Antenna to receiver with low loss Antenna – (transmitter must be turned off in this interval) Duplexer X HPA – Limiter/switch is used for additional protection against strong interference Limiter/Limiter/ Receiver SwitchSwitch
Receive Interval HPA = High Power Amplifier
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -20 Outline
• Introduction
• Radar Transmitter Overview
• Radar Waveform Generator and Receiver
• Radar Transmitter/Receiver Architecture
• Summary
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -21 Simplified Functional Descriptions
Waveform Generator
Waveform Amplify Upconvert Filtering To Antenna Generation
Carrier Signal
10011110010 From Antenna A/D Amplify Downconvert Filtering
Receiver
• Waveform generator and receiver share several similar functions – Amplification, filtering and frequency conversion
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -22 Frequency Conversion Concepts
Waveform Generator Receiver Frequency Upconversion Frequency Downconversion Baseband to L Band L Band to Baseband
Waveform Up L Band L Band Down 0.1 GHz 0.1 GHz Converter 1.5 GHz 1.5 GHz Converter To A/D
Local Oscillator Local Oscillator 1.4 GHz 1.4 GHz
• Upconverter translates the • Downconverter translates waveform frequency to a the receive frequency to a higher frequency lower frequency • Reason: • Reason: – Waveform generation – Dynamic range of A/D less expensive at lower converter higher at lower frequency frequency
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -23 Simplified System Block Diagram Waveform Generator and Receiver
Waveform Generator 1.5 GHz HPA 0.1 GHz (L-Band) Up Waveform Duplexer Filtering Filtering A converter Generation 1.4 GHz
Local Oscillator
1.5 GHz Low Noise 1.4 GHz (L-Band) Amplifier 0.1 GHz Down 0010110100 Filtering A/D Filtering converter A
Receiver
• This example shows only a single stage conversion – In general, design based on multiple stage of frequency conversion are employed • Multiple stages of amplification and filtering are also used
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -24 Outline
• Introduction
• Radar Transmitter Overview
• Radar Waveform Generator and Receiver
• Radar Transmitter/Receiver Architecture
• Summary
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -25 Dish Radars
ALCORALCOR ALTAIRALTAIR TRADEXTRADEX MMWMMW MILLSTONEMILLSTONE HAYSTACK/HAXHAYSTACK/HAX KWAJALEIN
Waveform Duplexer Transmitter Generator
001011110100 Receiver A/D
• Conventional radar transmitter/receiver design employed
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -26 Radar Antenna Architecture Comparison
Dish Radar Passive Array Radar Active Array Radar
T/R Modules
T R T R T R O • Very low cost • Beam agility • Beam agility PR • Frequency diversity • Effective radar resource • Effective radar resource management management • Low loss • High cost • Dedicated function • Higher cost ON • Requires custom • More complex cooling C • Slow scan rate transmitter and high-power • Requires custom phase shifters transmitter • High loss • High loss
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -27 Active Phased Array Radar
HPA Low Power Section T/R Subarray Duplexer … # 1 … Receiver T/R Active T/R Module T/R Subarray … # 2 … Waveform T/R Generator
001011110100 A/D
T/R … … T/R
• Transmit/Receive function distributed to each module on array
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -28 Large Phased Arrays
Active Array Radar
Passive Array Radar THAAD Radar 25,344 elements SPY-1 4100 elements
Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission. Passive Array Radar
Cobra Dane 15.3K active elements
Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission.
Courtesy of Raytheon. Used with permission.
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -29 Digital Array Radar Architecture Digital on Receive
Subarray Analog T/R Waveform
… Σ # 1 Generator A/D
Subarray # 2 Analog T/R 001011100 … Σ 111100001 A/D Multichannel111100001 One DigitalDigital A/D Digital Beamformer BeamBeams … … (Analog Array)
… 011110100
Analog T/R
… Σ
A/D
• Each active analog T/R module is followed by an A/D for immediate digitization – Multiple received beams are formed digitally by the digital beamformer
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -30 Digital Array Example Digital On Receive
RSTER (14 Digital Receivers)
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -31 Digital Array Radar Architecture II Digital on Transmit & Receive
001110010100 Waveform Waveform Control 1 Analog T/R Digital T/R Information
2 Analog T/R Digital T/R 001011100
111100001 Multichannel Digital
… Digital Beams Beamformer 011110100
N Analog T/R Digital T/R
• Both waveform generation and receiver digitization are performed within each T/R module – Complete flexibility on transmit and receive
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -32 Summary
• Radar transmit function is accomplished in two stages: – Waveform generator creates low power waveform signal and upconverts it to RF – Transmitter amplifies waveform signal
• Radar receiver performs filtering, amplification and downconversion functions – Final received signal is fed to an A/D for digitization
• Radar transmit/ receive architecture is highly dependent on the antenna type – Centralized architecture: dish radars, passive array radars – Distributed architecture: active array and digital array radars
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -33 References
• Skolnik, M., Introduction to Radar Systems, New York, McGraw-Hill, 3rd Edition, 2001 • Skolnik, M., Radar Handbook, New York, McGraw-Hill, 2nd Edition, 1990
Radar_TxRxCourse MIT Lincoln Laboratory PPhu 061802 -34