New Radar Technology

8 500-10 500 MHz Band

Presented by

Mr. Frank Sanders Mr. Thomas Fagan

National Telecommunications & Raytheon
Information Administration
 Technical Characteristics
• 8 500-10 500 MHz radars exist on land-based, transportable,
shipboard, and airborne platforms.

• Radiodetermination functions include airborne, space &

surface search, ground-mapping, terrain-following, navigation
(both aeronautical and maritime), and target-identification.

• Major differences among radar designs include: transmitter

output devices, transmit duty cycles, emission bandwidths,
presence and types of intra-pulse modulation, frequency-agile
capabilities of some, transmitter peak and average powers, and
types of transmitter RF power devices.

• These characteristics, individually and in combination, all

have major bearing on the compatibility of the radars with other
radio systems in their environment.
 More Technical Characteristics
• Many radiolocation radars in this band are primarily
used for detection of airborne objects.

• The purpose is to measure target altitude as well as

range and bearing.
– Some of the airborne targets are small and at long
ranges as great as 555 km (300 nautical miles).
– These radiolocation radars must have high sensitivity and
must provide a high degree of suppression to all forms of
clutter return, including that from sea, land, and
precipitation.

• In some cases, the radar emissions in this band are

required to trigger radar beacons.
 Mission Requirements Dictate
General Design Characteristics
Basic radar design parameters are as follows:
– Minimum target size (cross section) and maximum range requirements
– Maximum available space for antenna (constrained, for ex., by platform size)
– Spectrum band (driven by propagation needs & maximum possible antenna
size)
– Required (minimum acceptable) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for target echoes
– Minimum number of pulses (N), echoed from each target to achieve
minimum SNR
– Antenna scan rate and beam scanning pattern, determined by the values of
N and PRI
– Pulse repetition interval (PRI), determined by maximum radar range
– Pulse width and shape, determined by need for best possible location
resolution
 Mission Requirements Dictate
General Design Characteristics (cont.)
• Basic radar design parameters continued:
– Pulse peak power, determined by target size (cross section) and maximum
range
– Pulse modulation (coding), which can allow pulses to be transmitted at lower
peak power, but with proportionately longer length. (i.e., average power tends to
stay constant).
– Selection of radar transmitter output device is determined by needs for peak
power, pulse modulation (if any), size, weight, cost, reliability, and spectrum
characteristics.
• 8 500-10 500 MHz radars often have small platform-size (and
thus small antenna) constraints.
• 8 500-10 500 MHz radars often need to observe small targets
at relatively long ranges using designs that have reasonable
cost, reliability, and maintainability.
• These constraints feed back into all of the design parameters
listed on the previous slide.
 Mission Requirements Dictate
General Design Characteristics (cont.)
• 8 500 10 500 MHz radars often need high transmitter
peak and average power
• Master-oscillator-power-amplifier transmitters may
be preferred over power oscillators.
• Tunability and frequency-agility are sometimes
required
• Some require pulse modulation such as a linear (or
non-linear) FM chirp or phase codes.
• Antenna mainbeams often need to be steerable in
one or both angular dimensions, sometimes using
electronic beam steering.
 Mission Requirements Dictate
General Design Characteristics (cont.)
• Driven by mission requirements, individual 8 500-10 500 MHz
radars need a wide variety of pulse widths & pulse repetition
frequencies. Chirp radars need a variety of chirp bandwidths.
Some frequency-agile radars need a variety of agile-frequency
modes. Such design flexibilities can provide useful tools for
performing missions while maintaining compatibility with other
radars in the environment.
• Versatile receiving and processing capabilities are also often
needed for
8 500-10 500 MHz radars to include:
– Auxiliarysidelobe‑blanking receive antennas;
– Processing of coherent-carrier pulse trains to suppress clutter return
by means of moving-target-indication (MTI):
– Constant-false-alarm-rate (CFAR) techniques:
– Adaptive selection of operating frequencies based on sensing of
interference on various frequencies (some cases).
 Marine Radar
U.S. Department of Commerce

• Typical X-Band maritime

radionavigation radar
• Magnetron Output
• Integrated Platform
(receiver & transmitter
contained in small mast-
mounted package)
• Typically found onboard
pleasure craft and
commercial ships
8 500-10 500 MHz Marine Radar

Mk-2 Pathfinder (marine)

Raytheon
 Mission Requirements Dictate
Frequency Range

• Atmospheric attenuation and water vapor

absorption help determine radar
operational frequencies.
• Weather radars use frequencies where
water vapor absorption is high.
• Radiolocation radars use frequencies
where water vapor absorption is low.
– Only certain frequency bands have low water
vapor absorption.
 8 500-10 500 MHz Radar
Design Tradeoffs
• Except for some ground-based systems, 8 500-10 500
MHz platform dimensions typically restrict the maximum
possible size of transmitter antennae, both for present and
future systems.

• Small antenna sizes tend to force high pulse peak power

levels for adequate target detection. Alternatively, if lower
peak power levels are used then longer pulse widths are
required to expose targets to enough total energy to detect
them.

• But, if longer pulses are used, then additional pulse

modulation (coding) is required to achieve adequate range
resolution.
 8 500-10 500 MHz Radar
Design Tradeoffs (cont.)
• The choice of 8 500-10 500 MHz transmitter output
device technology is a major design decision. It
significantly affects radar performance, cost, and spectrum
out-of-band and spurious emission levels. Tradeoffs
between all these parameters must be carefully balanced
by designers of X-band radars.

• Some 8 500-10 500 MHz radar designs may be driven

primarily by cost and size factors, and may therefore need
to use cheaper and lighter tubes, such as magnetrons.
Conversely, more advanced transmitter output devices
(eg; solid state), may be more costly, heavier, and more
complex. But they may offer better-controlled pulse
shaping and thus possibly improved spectrum out-of-band
and spurious emission characteristics.
8 500-10 500 MHz Airborne Radar

• Typical example of an Airborne

Radar where it must fit into the
nosecone of an aircraft
• Note that the antenna is small to
fit into the limited amount of space
available

AN/APG-73 radar

Raytheon
8 500-10 500 MHz Airborne Radar

AN/APG-70 radar

Raytheon
 8 500-10 500 MHz Surface
Surveillance Radar

Used for monitoring

ground traffic
(airplanes, service
vehicles, baggage
vehicles, security
vehicles) at airports

Advanced Surface Movement Radar

(ASMR)

Raytheon
 Future 8 500-10 500 MHz Radar
Design Trends (cont.)
• More flexibility will be needed, including the capacity to operate different
modes in different azimuth and elevation sectors.

• Capability to operate in a wide bandwidth will be needed.

• Electronically-steerable antennae will become more common.

• Current technology makes phase steering a practical and attractive

alternative to frequency steering.
– Radars in other bands have employed phase steering in both azimuth and
elevation, and can steer any fundamental frequency in the radar’s operating
band to any arbitrary azimuth and elevation within its angular coverage area.
– Phase steering may enhance electromagnetic compatibility in many
circumstances.

• Reduction of unwanted emissions below those of the existing radars that

employ magnetrons or crossed-field amplifiers may occur through the use of
linear beam and solid-state output devices.
 Future 8 500-10 500 MHz Radar
Design Trends (cont.)
• Radar designs will continue to evolve
– Towards solid-state output devices;
– Radar bandwidth will increase (instantaneous and
operational);
– Peak power will increase on some radars;
– Average power will increase on some radars;
– Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) and pulse width
will increase;
– Amount of coding modulation (phase and chirp) will
increase due to the trend towards solid-state output
devices;
– Use of this radar frequency band will increase.
 Summary
• Development of radars in
this band is an ongoing
process that continue to
evolve as technology
advances.
• Working Party 8B will
continue to follow these
technology trends and
their consequences and
impact on the use of the
radio spectrum.
• Thank You for your
attention!