RADAR Principle

Range to a Target The most common radar signal, or waveform, is a series of shortduration, somewhat rectangular-shaped pulses modulating a sinewave carrier (This
is sometimes called a Pulse Train.) The range to a target is determined by the time
TR it takes the radar signal to travel to the target and back. Electromagnetic energy
in free space travels with the speed of light, which is c = 3 X 10^8 m/s. Thus the
time for the signal to travel to a target located at a range R and return back to the
radar is 2R/c. The range to a target is then
R = cTR/2

Maximum Unambigous Range

Maximum Unambiguous Range Once a signal is radiated into space by a radar,
sufficient time must elapse to allow all echo signals to return to the radar before the
next pulse is transmitted. The rate at which pulses may be transmitted, therefore, is
determined by the longest range at which targets are expected. If the time between
pulses Tp is too short, an echo signal from a long-range target might arrive after the
transmission of the next pulse and be mistakenly associated with that pulse rather
than the actual pulse -tranitted earlier. This can result in an incorrect or ambiguous
measurement of the ranl.choes that arrive after the transmission of the next pulse
are called second-time-around echoes (or multiple-time-around echoeif from even
earlier pulses). Such an echo would appear to be at a closer range thanactual and
range measurement could be misleading if it were not known to be a second-timearound eclJ The range beyond which targets appear as second-time-around echoes
is the maximum unambiguous range, and is given by

Simple form of RADAR Equation

RADAR Frequencies

RADAR Block Diagram

Beam Shapes

CW RADAR

MTI RADAR

Delay Line Canceller

Tracking RADAR