Detection of Signals in Noise

Receiver Thermal Noise

Noise is the unwanted electromagnetic energy that interferes with the ability of a receiver to detect the wanted signal Noise may enter the receiver through the antenna Noise may also be generated by the thermal motion of the conduction electrons in the ohmic portions of the receiver input stages. This is known as thermal or Johnson noise The noise power is expressed in terms of the temperature, To of a matched resistor at the input to the receiver

PN = kTo
where

k Boltzmanns Constant (1.38x10-23 J/K) To System Temperature (usually 290K) Receiver Noise Bandwidth (Hz)

Receiver Noise Figure

The noise power in practical receivers is always greater than that which can be accounted by thermal noise alone The total noise, N, at the output of the receiver can be considered to be equal to the noise power from an ideal receiver scaled by a factor called the noise figure, NF

N = PN NF = kTo .NF

The noise power can also be written as a log ratio relative to 1W

N dB = 10 log10 (kTo ) + NFdB

dBW

The receiver noise power can also be described in terms of a temperature Tsys=To(NF-1)

Detected Noise
Consider a typical radar front end that consists of an antenna followed by a wide band amplifier, a mixer that down converts the signal to an intermediate frequency (IF) where it is further amplified and filtered (bandwidth IF ) This is followed by an envelope detector and further filtering (bandwidth V = IF/2). The noise entering the IF filter is assumed to be Gaussian (as it is thermal in nature) with a probability density function (PDF) given by
p (v ) = 1 2 o exp v2 2 o

where p(v)dv - probability of finding the noise voltage V between v and v+dv. o - variance of the noise voltage.

Gaussian Noise

Rayleigh Envelope
If the Gaussian noise is passed through a narrow band filter (one whose bandwidth is small compared to the centre frequency), then the PDF of the envelope of the noise voltage output can be shown to be
R2 exp p( R) = o 2 o R
Where R Amplitude of the envelope at the filter output
Note: A good way to generate the Rayleigh distribution is to generate two independent Gaussian distributions I,Q and take the vector sum R = sqrt(I2 + Q2)

Rayleigh Distributed Envelope

Rayleigh Envelope for Ultrasound Example

Probability of False Alarm Pfa

A false alarm occurs whenever the noise voltage exceeds a threshold Vt The probability of this occurring is determined by integrating the PDF as shown

Pr ob(Vt < R < ) =

Vt

R
o

exp

R2 V 2 dR = exp t = Pfa 2 o 2 o
Vt 2 3 4 5 Pfa 0.135 0.0111 0.000335 0.000004

Values for this integral are as shown in the table for o = 1 Small changes in the threshold (in the tail) results in large changes in the Pfa

False Alarm Time

The average time interval between threshold crossings (+ve crossing slope only) is called the false alarm time, Tfa

1 N T fa = lim Tk N N k =1

False Alarm Probability

The false alarm probability could also be defined as the ratio of the time that the envelope is above the threshold to the total time The average duration of a noise pulse tk 1/

Pfa =

t
k =1 k =1 N

tk Tk

ave ave

1 T fa

Tk

For a bandwidth = if the false alarm time is therefore

Vt 2 T fa = exp IF 2 o 1

Duration of a Noise Pulse for Ultrasound Example

fil = 2kHz therefore 1/fil = 0.5ms

Probability of Detection
Consider that a sine wave with amplitude A is present along with the noise at the input to the IF filter The frequency of the sine wave is equal to the centre frequency of the IF filter It was shown by Rice that the signal at the output of the envelope detector will have the following PDF (a Ricean distribution) R 2 + A2 RA R Io ps ( R ) = exp o 2 o o Io(Z) is the modified Bessel function order zero with argument Z. For large Z an asymptotic expansion for Io(Z)
I o (Z ) eZ 1 + ... 1 + 2Z 8Z

PDFs for Noise and Signal + Noise in Ultrasound Example

PDFs for Noise and Signal + Noise

Detection Probability
Detection probability is determined by integration

pd =

ps ( R)dR =

Vt

R 2 + A2 RA exp o 2 o I o o dR Vt R

Unfortunately this cannot be evaluated in a closed form so numerical integration techniques or a series expansion must be used Fortunately this has been done for us already by North

1 Pd = erfc ln Pfa SNR + 0.5 2

where erfc is the complementary error function

Detection and False Alarm Probabilities for Envelope Detection

Detection Loss due to Non Coherent Detection

C x (1) SNR (1) 2.3 SNR (1)

Cx(1) Loss in SNR (not dB) SNR(1) Pre detector SNR needed to achieve the required Pd and Pfa

The Matched Filter

This SNR can achieve its maximum value when the IF filter is matched to the signal. This should not be confused with matching in circuit theory which maximises power transfer not SNR The peak signal to (average) noise power ratio of the output response of the matched filter is equal to twice the received signal energy E divided by the single-sided noise power per Hz, No

S 2E = N out N o
where S Peak instantaneous signal power seen during the matched filter response to a pulse (W) N Average noise power (W) E Received signal energy (J) No Single sided noise power density (W/Hz)

Matched Filter cont.

The energy received is the product of the received power S and the pulse duration

E = S
And the noise power density is the received noise power N divided by the bandwidth IF N No =

IF

Substituting for the peak signal power to average noise

S = 2S = S 2 IF N out N IF N in

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Matched filter cont..

When the bandwidth of the signal at the IF is small compared to the centre frequency then the peak power is approximately twice the average power in the received pulse (triangular pulse approximation) The output SNR (average power to average noise) is therefore

S S IF N out N in

Matched and Non Matched Filters

Input Pulse Shape Rectangular Rectangular Gaussian Gaussian Rectangular Filter Shape Rectangular Gaussian Rectangular Gaussian Single tuned circuit Optimum Loss in SNR (dB) . 1.37 0.72 0.72 0.44 0.4 0.613 0.672 0.85 0.49 0.39 0 0.88 0.56 0.5

Rectangular 2 cascaded tuned ccts Rectangular 5 cascaded tuned ccts

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Integration of Pulse Trains

The relationships developed earlier between SNR, Pd and Pfa apply to a single pulse only. As a search radar scans past a target, it will remain in the beam sufficiently long for more than one pulse to hit the target. The number can be calculated using the following formula:

nb =

b f p
& s

b f p 6 m

where nb Hits per scan b Azimuth beamwidth (deg) s Azimuth scan rate (deg/s) m Azimuth scan rate (rpm) For a long-range ground based radar with an azimuth beamwidth of 1.5, a scan rate of 5rpm and a pulse repetition frequency of 30Hz, the number of pulses returned from a single point target is 15. The process of summing all these hits is called integration, and it can be achieved in many ways some of which were discussed in an earlier lecture.

Effect of Integration on PDFs

Note that though the mean values of both the Noise and Signal+Noise remain unchanged, the variance decreases This results in a reduction of the required single pulse SNR to achieve a particular Pd and Pfa

Decreasing SNR

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Integration Efficiency
With integration, the required SNR decreases as a function of the number of samples integrated However as the single pulse SNR decreases, detector losses increase which result in reduced integration efficiency

Ei (n) =

SNR (1) nSNR (n)

where: EI(n) Integration efficiency SNR(1) Single pulse SNR required to produce a specific Pd if there is no integration. SNR(n) Single pulse SNR required to produce a specific Pd if n pulses are integrated perfectly.

The improvement in SNR if n pulses are integrated post detection is nEi(n). This is also the effective number of pulses integrated nEi(n) n0.8

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Integration Loss

Detection of Fluctuating Signals

All moving targets (with the exception of the sphere) will produce echoes whose RCS changes with time To account for these fluctuations, both the PDF and the correlation properties of the target must be known Ideally these should be measured for each target, however this is often not feasible A practical alternative is to postulate a reasonable model for target fluctuations and the analyse the effects mathematically Four fluctuation models have been proposed by Swerling for this purpose

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Swerling Fluctuation Models

Swerling 1&2 are indicative of a complex target made up of many (>5) scatterers of equal amplitude such as aircraft
Swerling 1: Echo pulses constant for the target over one scan (search radar) but uncorrelated from scan to scan. With av average RCS over all scans

p ( ) =

av

exp

av

Swerling 2: The PDF is as for case 1, but the fluctuations are independent from pulse to pulse

Swerling 3&4 are indicative of a target with one large scatterer and many small scatterers
Swerling 3: The fluctuations are independent from scan to scan, but the PDF has changed

p ( ) =

2 av

exp

av

Swerling 4: The fluctuations are independent from pulse to pulse with a PDF as for case 3

Additional Single Pulse SNR Required

The single pulse SNR to achieve a particular Pd is higher for a fluctuating target if Pd>0.4 If Pd<0.4 the system takes advantage of the fact that the fluctuating target will occasionally present an echo higher than average, so the required SNR is lower

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Effect of Fluctuations on Integration

Constant False Alarm Rate

As was shown in the table, the false alarm rate is very sensitive to the detection threshold voltage Component aging and changes in background mean that a fixed detection threshold is not practical Adaptive techniques that maintain a constant false alarm rate irrespective of the circumstances are called Constant False Alarm Rate (CFAR) processors For aircraft this is not a problem as the area around the target is generally clear, and good background statistics can be obtained For ground targets where the background is determined from clutter statistics, the terrain may not be homogeneous, and so additional processing is required CFAR losses decrease with the number of cells used from 3.5dB for 10cells to 0.7dB for 40cells CFAR losses decrease with pulses integrated for a 10cell average with 10 pulses integrated it is 0.7dB decreasing to 0.3dB for 100 pulses

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Cell Averaging CFAR Options

Area CFAR used in imaging or scanning systems Range CFAR used by pencil beam radars Azimuth CFAR perimeter protection radar

Cell Averaging (CA) CFAR Processor

Envelope Detector +
1 2 3 48 49 50

Comparator k + Threshold Decision

Average

Moving average around the cell-under-test determines the local statistics which are then used to determine whether a target is present or not. A number of guard cells around the test cell accommodate any leakage from that cell

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Cell Averaging CFAR Simulation

Constant Noise Floor

Sloping, 1/Rn Noise Floor

Air Traffic Control Radar Performance

Band: L Frequency: 1250 to 1350MHz Peak Power: 5MW Antenna size: 12.8x6.7m Antenna Gain: 36dB (lower beam) 34.5dB (upper) Beam shape: Cosec2 Elev beam: 4 Cosec2 to 40 Azim beam: 1.25 Scan: Mechanical Scan Rate: 6rpm PRF: 360pps PRF Stagger: Quadruple Pulse width: 2s Noise Figure: 4dB

Calculate the detection range for a 1m2 target if the detection probability Pd=0.9 and the mean time between false alarms is 9 hours

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Calculate the Pfa

Assume 2 cascaded bandpass sections for the matched filter. Loss = 0.56dB = 0.613 For = 2s the IF bandwidth = 306kHz Tfa = 9hrs = 32400sec

Pfa =

1 T fa

1 = 10 10 3 3 32.4 10 306 10

Required SNR
For Pd = 90% and Pfa = 10-10 SNR(1) = 15.2dB

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Fluctuating Target
For an aircraft target use Swerling 1 or 2 require additional 8dB required

Hits per scan

Pulse Integration

nb =

b f p 1.25 360 = = 12.5 6 m 6 6

Use n = 10 From the graph the Ii(n) = 15dB

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Required Single Pulse SNR

For Pd = 0.9 and Pfa = 10-10 15.2dB Additional for fluctuating target +8dB Integration improvement Ii(n) -15dB Single pulse SNR required 8.2dB

Losses in SNR
Transmitter Line LTX = 2dB incorporated into Tx power Receiver Line LRX = 2dB incorporated into noise figure 1D scanning loss Matched filter loss CFAR loss Misc. additional losses Total Loss 1.6dB 0.56dB 0.7dB 1.3dB 4.16dB

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Transmitted Power 10log10(5x106) Line loss Transmit Power Pt 67dBW 2dB 65dBW

Receiver Noise
N = 10log10(KT)+NF+LRX 10log10(1.38x10-23 x 290 x 306x103) Noise Figure NF Receiver line loss LRX Total Receiver Noise

-149dBW 4dB 2dB -143dBW

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Apply the Radar Range Equation to Determine the Received Power

2 Pr = Pt + 2GdB + 10 log10 LdB + dB 40 log10 R (4 ) 3
Pt GdB LdB 65dBW 36dB (lower beam) 4.16dB 10log10(1) 0dBm2 -43.7dB

dB

Const

Pr = 65 + 2x36 - 45.7 - 4.16 + 0 - 40log10R

Pr = 87.14 40log10R

Detection Range
For a single pulse SNR of 8.2dB, the received power must be 8.2dB above the noise floor Smin = N + SNR = -143 + 8.2 = -134.8dBW Smin = Pr -134.8 = 87.14 40log10R Solve for R R = 10(87.14+134.8)/40 = 353580m (353.6km)

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Atmospheric Attenuation
The clear air attenuation dB at L-Band is about 0.003dB/km (one way) Over 350km the total attenuation will be 2.1dB which will make a significant difference to the detection range The radar range equation that includes this range dependent term is best solved graphically using MATLAB

Graphical Solution

310km

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RGCALC
Radar performance analysis based on work by Blake has been available for many years For the Enroute radar it produces the following results

Note that the predicted range using RGCALC for Swerling 2, and that derived previously, differ slightly because RGCALC assumes that =1, and so their bandwidth is larger, so their noise floor is higher

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