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CHAPTER 8. Radar and Surveillance

8.1. General
Radar (radio detection and ranging) is a system which transmits an RF signal and detects the RF energy reflected back to it by distant objects.

8.2. Uses
Primary Radar is used in the air traffic control system to determine the position of aircraft Secondary Radar is used in the air traffic control system to determine the position of aircraft. It also provides information about the aircraft such as altitude and identity Weather Radar is used on board aircraft to detect thunderstorms and areas of heavy turbulence. It is also being upgraded to detect windshear. Radar Altimeters are used to determine the height of the aircraft above ground

8.3. Basic Principle

the elemental radar system consists of a transmitter unit, an antenna for emitting electromagnetic radiation and receiving the echo, an energy detecting receiver and a processor. a portion of the transmitted signal is intercepted by a reecting object (target) and is reradiated in all directions the antenna collects the returned energy in the backscatter direction and delivers it to the receiver the distance to the receiver is determined by measuring the time taken for the electromagnetic signal to travel to the target and back. the direction of the target is determined by the angle of arrival (AOA) of the reected signal. the simplest radar waveform is a train of narrow (0.1s to 10s) rectangular pulses modulating a sinusoidal carrier the distance to the target is determined from the time TR taken by the pulse to travel to the target and return and from the knowledge that electromagnetic energy travels at the speed of light thus:
cT R R = --------2

or R(km)=0.15TR(s) or R(NM)=0.081TR(s) once the pulse is transmitted by the radar a sufcient length of time must elapse before the next pulse to allow echoes from targets at the maximum range to be detected.

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thus the maximum rate at which pulses can be transmitted is determined by the maximum range at which targets are expected. This rate is called the pulse repetition rate (PRF) if the PRF is too high echo signals from some targets may arrive after the transmission of the next pulse. This leads to ambiguous range measurements. Such pulses are called second time around pulses the range beyond which second time around pulses occur is called the maximum unambiguous range

c R UNAMBIG = --------2fP
where fP is the PRF in Hz.

8.4. Primary Radar

Primary radar is the name given to the simplest form of air traffic control radar in which the transmitter emits a train of pulses at a constant PRF and the receiver responds to the energy reflected from the skin of the aircraft. Since there are many sizes of aircraft, and they can be at many different attitudes with respect to the radar, the range of magnitudes of echoes can be quite large. This gives rise to the idea of target cross section. The power density at the target is given by the familiar equation

Pt G ----------2 4r
from the notes on communications antennas. Thus if the area of cross section of the target were , then the power intercepted by the target is

Pt G ----------2 4r
This expression gives the new Pt for the target In order to simplify subsequent calculations, it is assumed that the energy is reradiated isotropically i.e. equally in all directions and the power density arriving back at the receiver is

Pt 1 ----------G ----------2 2 4r 4r Pt - G -----------------2 4 (4) r

obviously most targets do not reradiate isotropically, e.g. a fighter observed head on would reflect most of the incident energy in a rearward direction and thus would have a small radar cross section relative to its physical size

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a corner cube reflector, on the other hand, reflects almost all of the incident power back along the transmission path and thus would have a radar cross section much larger than its physical cross section

Radar power reected from a ghter in head on orientation

Radar power reected from a corner cube reector

note that at other orientations the ghter will present much larger cross sections Typical cross sections are: Large insect Medium-sized bird Stealth Fighter (F117) Light aircraft Small Fighter: 1 m2 2 m2 0.0003m2 0.003m2 0.003m2

Medium jetliner: 40 m2 747 100 m2

Radar cross sections of typical targets can be measured and thus can be used in the design of the radar.

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8.4.1 Typical Primary Radar Characteristics

Frequency: L Band (1 to 2 MHz) Power Output: 1 MW Range: 80 NM PRF: about 600 pps Antenna rotation rate: about 6 rpm

8.4.2 Advantages
Aircraft do not require any equipment to be detected

8.4.3 Disadvantages
Large amounts of power required due to the 1/r4 loss. Large antenna required Provides only position information

8.5. Secondary Radar

Secondary radar addresses the main disadvantages of the primary radar but does require equipment to be installed on the aircraft It had its beginnings during the when it was recognized that there was a requirement to be able to distinguish between friendly and enemy aircraft. The original system was called IFF for Identify Friend or Foe. In this system friendly aircraft had a transponder installed. This transponder gave a stronger reply than the simple reflection so the aircraft so equipped could be identified. The advantages of these transponders as applied to the air traffic control system soon became evident: i) less power was required. (because the power density needed was inversely proportional to the square of the distance rather than the fourth power) ii) smaller antenna was required iii) has the capability of exchanging information Frequency of operation: Ground Transmit: 1030 MHz Airborne Transmit: 1090 MHz

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8.5.1 ATC Modes

Coding: There are four codes, denoted Modes A, B, C and D which are selected by the ground transmitter by means of pulse spacings of 8, 17,21, and 25 microseconds respectively. ICAO has assigned Modes A and B to simple ATC identification but usually only Mode A is used. In mode A the airborne transponder is capable of generating 4096 digital codes in its reply signal. These codes are assigned to the aircraft by ATC as part of the ATC clearance and the pilot selects the assigned code on the control head. The control head code is a 4 digit octal number e.g. code 1200 is for VFR aircraft, 7700 is emergency Since the ATC radar computer knows which aircraft are transmitting which codes, the aircraft can be identified easily Mode C includes altimeter encoding. The transponder is interfaced with the aircraft altimeter via synchros or digital means. The transponder encodes the altitude information and includes it in its reply, along with the identity codes. With this the ATC computer can display altitude as well as identity data At the present time, another mode, denoted Mode S (selective), is being introduced. This is a major extension of the function of the radar into the data link field. Under Mode S, the radar will be able to transmit data and messages to the aircraft such as GPS differential corrections and weather reports. The aircraft will also have the capability of transmitting information to the ground.

8.5.2 Suppression
Since the airborne transponder operates in the same frequency band as the DME and TACAN, and since it outputs a fairly high powered pulse (around 1 kW), the transponder is connected to the DME and TACAN receivers via the suppression line as was mentioned in the section on DME

8.6. Airborne Weather Radar

One of the major hazards to flight is severe turbulence. This is usually found in active thunderstorms which are often embedded in layers of cloud and thus cant be detected until it is too late. Fortunately there is a good correlation between areas of heavy precipitation and turbulence with larger raindrops being associated with heavier more violent turbulence. Thus radar can be used to identify hazardous regions. In ordinary ATC radar the objective is to choose frequencies which are not influenced by precipitation. In weather radar the objective is to use a frequency which is partially but not completely reflected by rain. This is because it is not desirable to have a nearby patch of rainfall mask one which is farther away. Frequencies used are usually around 10 GHz (X band) Advances in processing capability allow present day weather radars to distinguish areas of sharp rainfall gradients which indicate the areas of most violent turbulence.

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Airborne radar antennas are usually installed in the nose radome. They are flat and use phasing techniques to shape the beam.

Figure 47:
Airborne Weather Radar Antenna

In Figure 47, note that each slot in the face of the antenna is a small antenna which radiates part of th signal. The antenna itself is very light and is scanned from side to side at an elevation angle which can be selected by the pilot. Side Lobes on t.he bottom of the antenna pattern introduce reflections from objects on the ground. This is usually undesirable, The Doppler shift caused by the velocity of the aircraft relative to the ground is different from the Doppler shift caused by the velocity of the aircraft relative to precipitation and can be used to reduce this effect. Sometimes, however it is desirable to use the radar for navigation and the Doppler processing can be removed. This is called the Ground Mapping Mode.

8.7. Windshear Detection

Windshear is defined as a persistent wind velocity discontinuity. Persistent indicates that the phenomenon has a relatively long time duration (many seconds to many minutes) and velocity indicates that either the direction or speed (or both) of the wind changes. Discontinuity indicates that the change occurs over a short span of distance (vertical or horizontal). Windshear is important to the pilot because the immediate effect is to change the aircrafts airspeed. If the increase is positive, there is usually no major problem, but if the change is negative and the aircraft is close to the stall, the results can be disastrous. Most windshears are horizontal, being caused by one layer of air moving relative to another, usually near a front. Another example of windshear occurs at the boundary of the jetstream. The most dangerous, however, is the microburst In an area of thunderstorm activity there are columns of rapidly descending (vertical speed about 50 ft./sec) air caused by large amounts of falling precipitation which drags the air with it. Surrounding this column is an area of rising air. If an aircraft encounters such a situation, the rising air causes the aircrafts altitude to increase

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which leads the pilot to retard the throttle and decrease the pitch angle. Then the aircraft enters the descending air and is driven towards the ground in an unfavourable attitude and power setting. This can lead to loss of control and excessive stress on the aircraft. When the desecnding column encounters the earths surface, it spreads out as shown in Figure.48

Figure 48:
Microburst geometry

If the burst occurs in the approach path of an aircraft, it first experiences a headwind whic reduces its groundspeed. After passing the centre of the microburst, it encounters a tailwind which instantaneously reduces the airspeed, possibly to below the stall speed. e.g. the appoach speed is usually 1.3 times the stall speed. If the microburst windspeed is 30 knots the groundspeed will be 100 knots before entering the middle of the burst. Soon after it will be 70 knots! Given sufficient height, the aircraft could recover before hitting the ground but there have been cases when it hasnt Microbursts have resulted in at least two major accidents in recent years and much research is being done to develop a warning system One approach is to use doppler radar and advanced signal processing to avoid confusion with echo from the airport environment. Another, similar approach uses lasers instead of radar to detect the doppler shift from particles being moved by the burst (water, dust) A third uses radiometers to detect unusual temperature changes in the flight path. (The air in the descending column is substantially cooler than the surrounding air)

8.8. Radar (or Radio) Altimeters

Usually the altitude of an aircraft is determined using the barometric altimeter. However, the errors in these devices are such that they are not useful for vertical guidance in the last stages of flight. Even the ILS glide path is not usable below 200 Ft. or so. Thus for autoland systems and for establishing the decision height in ILS approachessome means of determining of determining accurately the absolute height of the aircraft above the ground is required The device used for this purpose is the radar altimeter in which a radio beam is projected downward from the aircraft, is reflected from the ground and is detected by a receiver on the aircraft.

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Since the distance from the aircraft to the ground is small, the time between transmission and reception is small (400 ns at 200 Ft.) and when the original radar altimeters were produced, pulsed radar systems were not capable of producing and processing pulses which were short enough. Thus they employed an FM system as follows:

Transmitted Signal Reected Signal Frequency

t A

The transmitted signal is frequency modulated in a sawtooth fashion as shown. Since the received signal is delayed by the round trip time t the received frequency is shifted by a proportional amount. Thus by comparing the received frequency with the transmitted frequency. Typical radar altimeter accuracy is 2 Ft. + 1% of height. i.e. 3 Ft. at 100 Ft.

8.9. Surveillance Systems

Radar has been the eyes of Air Traffic Controllers for the past fifty years or more and has become synonymous with the means by which ATC knows where aircraft are (called surveillance). Before radar, however, aircraft positions were (and still are over the North Atlantic) reported by the aircraft themselves (or at least by the pilots) using position fixes on navigation aids. This had the disdvantage of a very low data rate (perhaps four position fixes an hour). Radar gives much better performance than that! The situation is now turning full circle. With the introduction of GPS, it is now becoming feasible for the aircraft to tell ATC where it is at all times - at least once per second and more often, if necessary. Thus ADS (Automatic Dependent Surveillance) is being developed. Automatic, because no pilot action is required; dependent because the surveillance depends on the aircraft, and surveillance because it tells ATC where the aircraft is at all times.

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One of the biggest advantages of ADS is that it removes the requirement for complex ground based equipment and thus allows suveillance over oceanic and polar regions. This, in turn allows greater traffic density and more efficient use of airspace. This issue is in its infancy and is in a state of flux and it is difficult to get accurate, current information While it may seem counterproductive, three systems are in current use (FANS-1, FANS-A and ADS-B) and a fourth has been defined by an ICAO SARPS. Obviously some sort of data link is required. This can be VHF (limited by line of sight), satellite (limited by aircraft equipment), Mode S radar (limited by line of sight)

8.9.1 ADSA/C (FANS-1 and FANS-A)

This method involves establishing and maintaining a two-way communications link between the ATC system and the aircraft. This mode has been implemented by Boeing (FANS-1) on the 747-400, 767,777 and 787and by Airbus (FANS-A) on A-330, A-340 and A-380 aircraft. The communications link is though the ACARS (Aircraft Communications and Addressing System) which uses both VHF and satellite (INMARSAT) systems. Position is transmitted on the request of the ATC ground station. The system may also be used for controller to pilot data link communications or CPDLC

8.9.2 ADS-B
ADS-B stands for ADS broadcast. Unlike ADSA/C, there is no two-way communication between the aircraft and the ATC system. The aircraft simply transmits it position information continuously over a data link and any suitably equipped facility can receive it. At the present time NAVCanada has implemented ADS-B in the area of Hudson Bay (see Figure 49) to improve the efficiency of traffic flow in that area since much it is outside radar coverage.

The system became operational on 15 Jan 2009.

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Figure 49:
ADS-B coverage over Hudson Bay

The NavCanada system uses extended squitter of the mode S transponder reply. Mode S extended squitter, also known as 1090ES (since the frequency used is 1090MHz), adds pulses to the standard reply message. These pulses are used to carry digital codes for the aircraft position, velocity, heading. The information is obtained from the aircrafts GPS receiver. Relatively inexpensive receivers on the ground receive these replies and relay them to the Air Traffic Control Centre. Note that a secondary radar is not necessary to trigger these Mode S replies since they can be triggered by other aircraft operating TCAS or, if necessary, the ground stations can be equipped with and interrogation transmitter. Other data links being proposed are VDL (VHF Data Link) and one of the TACAN frequencies (978MHz) used in conjunction with a Universal Access Transceiver wich was developed in the US and intended for General Aviation aircraft.

8.9.3 Multilateration
Another initiative to move away from the traditional ground-based radar is multilateration. This also uses transmissions from ATC transponders but, instead of getting the position information from the aircrafts GPS, the multilateration system records the time of arrival of the transmission at several (more than three) ground-based receivers and then computes the aircraft position independently. Recall from the notes on navigation that the line of position resulting from the difference in times of arrival is a hyperbola. Thus, with at least three receivers, three differences can be determined and three hyperbolas computed. The position fix is where the hyperbolas intersect.

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NavCanada is installing multilateration systems in the Vancouver Harbour area and in the Fort St. John area. In Vancouver there is a lot of low level traffic in addition to the mountains so that a conventional radar system will not provide the necessary service. In Fort St. John low level surveillance is restricted by mountains. In addition Nav Canada and Aeroports de Montreal are planning a multilateration system to improve the monitoring of ground vehicles at Trudeau International Airport.

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