You are on page 1of 38

CW and FM-CW Radar

Doppler Effect:
The radar transmitter may be operated continuously rather than
pulsed if the stray transmitted signal can be separated from the
weak echo signal
A feasible technique for separating the received signal from the transmitted
signal, when there is a relative motion between radar and target, is based on
recognizing the change in the echo signal frequency

If either the source or the target is in motion


An apparent shift in frequency will result known as Doppler effect
This is the basis of CW radar

If R is the distance from the radar to the target, the total number
of wavelength contained in the two-way path is 2R/

Since one wavelength correspond to an angular revolution of 2


radian
The total angular revolution made by the EM wave during its round trip is

= 4R/ radian
If is continuously changing with time, then we define the
Doppler frequency shift as fd
If the target is in motion, R and the phase are continually
changing. A change in , with respect to time is equal to a
frequency. This is the Doppler angular frequency d, given by

where fd = Doppler frequency shift, and vr = relative (or radial)


velocity of target with respect to radar.
The Doppler frequency shift is

The relative velocity may be written as vr = v cos, where v is the


target speed and is the angle made by the target trajectory and the
line joining radar and target.
When = 0, the doppler frequency is maximum.
The doppler is zero when the trajectory is perpendicular to
the radar line of sight ( = 90).

The CW radar serves as a means for better understanding the


nature and use of doppler information contained in the echo
signal
Also provides a measurement of relative velocity which may be used to
distinguish a moving target from the stationary one

CW Radar:
The Transmitter generates a continuous (unmodulated) oscillation
of frequency f0 which is radiated by the antenna
If the target is in motion with a velocity vr relative to the radar
The received signal will be shifted in frequency from the transmitted
frequency by an amount fd
The +ve sign applies if the distance between target and radar is decreasing (approaching
target)
i.e., then the received signal frequency is greater than the transmitted one

The -ve sign applies if the distance is increasing (receding target)

This received echo signal is heterodyned in the mixer and remove


the portion f0
and produce a doppler beat note of frequency fd
The sign of fd is lost in this process

The purpose of beat frequency amplifier (doppler amplifier) is to


eliminate the echo from stationary target
and to amplify the doppler echo signal to a level where it can operate an
indicating device

CW Radar

Isolation between Tx and Rx:


A single antenna serves the purpose of the transmission and
reception in the simple CW radar described above
The necessary isolation is achieved via separation in frequency as a result of
the doppler effect

In practice, it is not possible to eliminate completely the Tx leakage


Hence, the amount of isolation required depends on the Tx power and the
accompanying Tx as well as the ruggedness & the sensitivity of the Rx

The largest isolation are obtained with two antenna


One for the transmission and other for reception
Having high gain and are physically separated

The more directive the antenna beam and the greater the spacing between
antenna
Greater will be the isolation

Intermediate Frequency Receiver:


The receiver of simple CW radar is similar to a superheterodyne Rx
The function of LO is replaced by the leakage signal from the Tx
This makes the Rx simpler

However the simple Rx is not as much sensitive because of


increased noise at the lower IF caused by flicker effect

Flicker Effect noise:


It occurs in semiconductor devices such as diode detectors and
cathode of vacuum tubes
The noise power produced by the flicker effect varies as 1/f,
where 1
Not same as shot or thermal noise, because they are independent of frequency

Thus at lower range of frequency (audio or video), which are also


the range of doppler frequency
The CW Rx can introduce a considerable amount of flicker noise
Results in reduced Rx sensitivity

The effect of flicker noise are overcome in the normal superheterodyne Rx


by using an IF high enough

figure

Receiver Bandwidth:
One of the requirement of doppler frequency amplifier or the IF
amplifier is that it would be wide enough to pass the expected
range of doppler frequency
Generally, the expected range will be much wider than the frequency
spectrum occupied by signal energy
This use of wideband amplifier will result in an increase in noise and a lowering of the
Receiver sensitivity

If the frequency of doppler shifted echo were known beforehand


a narrowband filter just wide enough to reduce the excess noise without
eliminating the signal energy might be used

Sign of Radial Velocity:


In order to determine whether the target is approaching or
receding, separate filters are located on either side of the IF
If the echo signal frequency greater than the carrier
Target is approaching

If the echo signal frequency lies below the carrier


Target is receding

Sign of Radial Velocity:


If the Tx signal is given by
Et = E0Cos0t

and the echo signal, from a moving target, by


Er = k1E0Cos[(0d)t+]
where
k1 = constant, determined from radar equation
0 & d = angular frequency and doppler shift
= constant phase shift, depend upon range of initial detection

The sign of the doppler frequency, and therefore the direction of


target motion, may be found by splitting the received signal into
two channels as shown in Figure.

In channel A the signal is processed as in the simple CW radar.


The received signal and a portion of the transmitter heterodyne in
the detector (mixer) to yield a difference signal

The other channel is similar, except for a 90 phase delay introduced


in the reference signal. The output of the channel B mixer is

If the target is approaching (positive doppler), the outputs from


the two channels are

On the other hand, if the target is receding (negative doppler),

The sign of d and the direction of the target's motion may be


determined according to whether the output of channel B
leads or lags the output of channel A.
One method of determining the relative phase relationship between
the two channels is to apply the outputs to a synchronous two-phase
motor.
The direction of motor rotation is an indication of the direction of
the target motion.

Application of CW Radar:
Measurement of relative velocity of moving target
Control of traffic light, vehicle counting & collision avoidance

Employed for monitoring the docking speed of large ships


Also used for intruder alarms, and measurement of velocity of
missiles
Shortcoming:
One of the greatest shortcoming of the simple CW radar is its
inability to measure the range
Can be overcome by modulating the CW carrier
Known as FM-CW radar

FM-CW Radar:
Some sort of timing mark must be applied to a CW carrier if
range is to be measured
This mark permits the time of transmission and the time of return to be
recognized
The sharper or more distinct the marks
The more accurate the measurement of transit time

But this require broader transmitted spectrum

The spectrum of a CW transmission can be broadened by the


application of modulation (amplitude, frequency or phase)
An example of amplitude modulation is Pulse radar
The narrower the pulse, the more accurate the measurement of range, and
the broader spectrum

A widely used technique to broaden the spectrum of CW radar is


to frequency modulate the carrier
The timing mark is the changing frequency

Range & Doppler measurement:


The transmitted frequency is changed as a function of time in
known manner
Figure

In case of fig (a):


The transmitter freq increases linearly with time
If there is a reflecting object at a distance R
The echo signal will return after a time T = 2R/c, the dashed line represent
the echo signal
If the echo signal is heterodyne with a portion of transmitted signal, a beat
note fb (difference in frequency) will be produced
If there is no doppler frequency shift, the beat note is a measure of the targets
range and fb = fr

If the rate of change of carrier frequency is f0, the beat frequency is

fr = f0T = (2R/c)f0

In case of fig (b):


In any practical CW radar, the frequency cant be continuously
change in one direction only
i.e., periodicity in the modulation is necessary (e.g. triangular FM waveform)
The modulation need not necessarily be triangular
i.e., it can be sawtooth, sinusoidal or some other type

In case of fig (c):


The resulting beat frequency is shown for triangular modulation
The beat note is of constant frequency except at the turn-around region

If the frequency is modulated at a rate fm over a range f, the beat


frequency is
fr = (2R/c)2fmf = 4Rfmf/c
Thus the measurement of beat frequency determine the range R
The block diagram of FM-CW radar is given here

A portion of Transmitted signal acts as the reference signal


required to produce the beat frequency
The isolation between Tx and Rx antenna is made sufficiently large

The beat freq is amplified and limited to remove any


amplitude fluctuations
It is measured with a cycle-counting frequency meter calibrated in
distance.

In the above discussions, the target was assumed to be stationary


If the target is moving
A doppler shift will be superimposed on the FM range beat note, and an
erroneous range measurement results
The doppler frequency shift causes the frequency-time plot of the echo
signal to be shifted up or down
e.g., if the target is approaching, the beat frequency produced during the
increasing side

thus,
fb(up)
= fr - fd
fb(down) = fr + fd

When more than one target are present, the mixer output will
contain more than one difference frequency
If the system is linear, there will be a frequency component corresponding
to each target
The range to each target may be determined by measuring the individual
frequency component and applying the above formulas to each.

FM-CW Altimeter:
FM-CW radar principle is used in the aircraft radio altimeter to
measure height above the surface of earth

It employs the superheterodyne Receiver for better sensitivity and


stability
Block diagram
The selection of LO frequency is different from that in the usual
superheterodyne receiver
The LO frequency should be same as the IF used in the receiver
Whereas in the conventional superheterodyne, the LO frequency is of the same
order of RF signal

Also the filtered sideband serves the function of LO

Measurement Errors:
The absolute accuracy of radar altimeter is usually of more
importance at low altitude than at high
The discreteness of the frequency measuring devices give rise to
an error called the fixed error or step error
Also called the quantization error

Errors are also caused due to the uncontrolled variation in the


transmitter/modulated frequency
At short range, the residual path error can also result in a
significant error unless compensated
The residual path error is the error caused by delays in the circuitry and the
transmission line

Multipath signals also produce errors. The unwanted signal are:

Multiple Frequency CW Radar:


The CW radar can also measure range (for stationary targets),
BUT under some circumstances
By measuring the phase of the echo signal relative to the phase of the
transmitted signal

Mathematical expressions
Thus the range can be given as c/2(f)

Consider a CW radar radiating a single-frequency sine wave of the form


sin2f0t. (The amplitude of the signal is taken to be unity since it does not
influence the result.)
The signal travels to the target at a range R, and returns to the radar
after a time T = 2R/c.
The echo signal received at the radar is sin[2f0(t - T)].
If the transmitted and received signals are compared in a phase detector,
the output is proportional to the phase difference between the two, and can
be given as = 2f0T = 4f0R/c.
The phase difference may therefore be used as a measure of the range, or

However, the measurement of the phase difference is unambiguous only


if does not exceed 2 radians. Substituting = 2 into above Eqn.
gives the maximum unambiguous range as /2.
At radar frequencies this unambiguous range is too small to be of
practical interest.

The region of unambiguous range may be extended considerably by utilizing


two separate CW signals differing slightly in frequency.

The unambiguous range in this case corresponds to a half


wavelength at the difference frequency.
The transmitted waveform is assumed to consist of two continuous sine waves
of frequency f1 and f2, separated by an amount f. For convenience, the
amplitudes of all signals are set equal to unity.
The voltage waveforms of the two components of the transmitted signal v1T
and v2T may be written as

where 1 and 2 are arbitrary (constant) phase angles.

The echo signal is shifted in frequency by the doppler effect. The form of the
doppler-shifted signals at each of the two frequencies f1 and f2 may be written

where R0 = range to target at a particular time t = t0 (range that would be


measured if target were not moving)
fd1 = doppler frequency shift associated with frequency f1
fd2 = doppler frequency shift associated with frequency f2
Since the two RF frequencies f1 and f2 are approximately the same,

i.e., f2 = f1 + f, where f f1
the doppler frequency shifts fd1 and fd2 are approximately equal to one another.
Therefore we may write fd1 = fd2 = fd.

The receiver separates the two components of the echo signal and
heterodynes each received signal component with the corresponding
transmitted waveform and extracts the two doppler-frequency components
given below:

The phase difference between these two components is

Henc

which is the same as that of earlier Eqn. with f substituted in place of f0.

The two frequencies of the two-frequency radar were described as being


transmitted simultaneously.
They may also be transmitted sequentially in some applications by
rapidly switching a single RF source.
A large difference in frequency between the two transmitted signals improves
the accuracy of the range measurement since large f means a proportionately
large change in for a given range.
However, there is a limit to the value of f, since cannot be greater
than 2 radians if the range is to remain unambiguous.
Hence, the maximum unambiguous range Runamb is

Therefore f must be less than c/2Runamb.

You might also like