Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Representative
Applications
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38
Long-range surveillance
Weather prediction
Early warning
Storm avoidance
Sea surveillance
Tornado warning
Low-altitude surveillance
Targeting
Navigational Aids
Altimetry
Remote Sensing
Fighter/Interceptor Support
Air-to-air search
Raid assessment
Target identification
Missile guidance
Air/Ground Targeting
Terrain mapping
Strategic bombing
Environmental monitoring
Defense suppression
Law enforcement
Proximity Fuses
Artillery
Change mapping
Guided missile
Submarine detection
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radar can see through clouds while still receiving echoes from
rain within them. The larger the raindrops, the stronger their
echoes. By sensing the rate of change of the strength of the
echoes range, the radar can detect thunderstorms. By scanning
a wide sector, the radar can display those regions in which
hazardous weather and turbulence are likely to be encountered. (Fig. 3-2).
Wind Shear Warning. Wind shears are strong downdrafts that
can occur unexpectedly in thunderstorms. At low altitudes the
outflow of air from the core of the downdraft can cause an aircraft to encounter an increasing headwind when flying into the
downdraft and then a strong tailwind when emerging from it
(Fig. 3-3). Without warning, this combination of conditions can
cause an aircraft that is taking off or landing to crash.
Pulse-Doppler weather radars employed in aircraft are sensitive not only to the intensity of the rainfall but also to its horizontal velocity and therefore to the winds within a storm. By
measuring the rate of change of the horizontal winds, these
radars can detect a wind shear embedded in rain as much
as 8 km ahead, giving the pilot up to around 10 seconds of
warning to take avoidance action. Radar has also been used to
detect wind shear in clear air by examining the echo response
caused by dust particles.
Figure 3-2. This shows the display of a weather radar systems view
of Hurricane Katrina, which caused devastation to New Orleans and
the surrounding area in 2008. The color-coding indicates intensity
of precipitation and turbulence. (Courtesy of National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.)
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Radar Pulse
Reply Pulse
Transmitter
Receiver
Transmitter
Coding
Transmitter
Synch.
Coding
Receiver
TRANSPONDER
Receiver
Coded
Reply
INTERROGATOR
A more capable beacon system (Fig. 3-5) includes an interrogator, which transmits coded pulses to which transponders
respond with coded replies. The most common beacons of
this sort are those used as part of air traffic control. Until
recently these were dominated by the Air Traffic Control Radar
Beacon System (ATCRBS), which is expected to be phased out.
Its replacements are the Automatic Dependent SurveillanceBroadcast System (ADS-B) and Mode Select (Mode S), which
have improved capacity to handle more aircraft and provide
more detailed flight information.
Assisting Air Traffic Control. Mode S transponders are carried
on all but the smallest private aircraft and have interrogators
that operate in conjunction with the air traffic control radar at
every major airport. An interrogators monopulse antenna is
mounted atop the radar antenna, so it moves and scans with it
(Fig. 3-6). The interrogators pulses are synchronized with the
radars. The operator can subsequently interrogate an incoming aircraft simply by touching its blip on the radar display
with a light pen.
Ordinarily the interrogator uses only two of several possible codes. One requests the identification code of the aircraft carrying the transponder, and the other requests the
aircrafts altitude. Every beacon-equipped aircraft can thus be
positively identified and its position accurately determined in
three dimensions.1 Strictly speaking, this is not a radar system.
However, its heritage and use make it a very close cousin, and
it is commonly referred to as Mode S radar.
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Blind Low-Altitude Flight. Low-altitude flight is inherently dangerous but can enable a fighter, via a technique termed hedgehopping, to avoid observation and hence enemy attack. To
accomplish hedge-hopping, two basic radar modes have been
developed: terrain following and terrain avoidance.
In terrain following (Fig. 3-8), an aircrafts forward-looking
radar scans the terrain ahead by sweeping a pencil beam vertically to the horizon. From the elevation profile this obtains,
vertical steering commands are computed, supplied to the
flight control system, and used to automatically fly the aircraft
safely at terrain-skimming altitude.
Vertical Scan
Figure 3-8. For terrain following, a radar scans the terrain ahead
vertically with a pencil beam.
Figure 3-9. For terrain avoidance, the radar alternately scans terrain
ahead both vertically and horizontally.
h = R sin
R
Target
Figure 3-10. The figure depicts measurement of the range and the
relative altitude of a point on the ground. The range that the radar
measures is the one at which the elevation tracking-error signal is
zero.
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Figure 3-11. Vehicular radar systems are using low cost but
sophisticated technology to improve both traffic safety and
trafficflow. (Courtesy of AutoLiv.)
Pele Island
Pele Point
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Cleveland.Ohio
Open Water
Brash
Figure 3-14. A SAR map, such as might be used to interdict smugglers, shows a convoy of
trucks on an off-road trail. As indicated by the radar shadows of the trees, the map was made
from by a radar system operating at long range some distance above the top of the image.
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Long-Range Air-to-Ground Reconnaissance. Very high-resolution (30 cm) SAR radars provide all-weather surveillance of
military targets out to ranges of several hundred km. In fact,
as the altitude of the aircraft determines the range to the horizon it also finds the longest operational ranges. The very high
resolution provides a level of detail invaluable in pinpointing
ground targets for fighters and bombers.
SAR radars have been developed for such missions in small
pilotless reconnaissance aircraft capable of long-range endurance flight (Fig. 3-17). These radars also relay radar images of
30 cm resolution via satellite directly to users in the field. The
imagery from a SAR system is produced in real time and hence
in prodigious quantities. The quantities of data are too great
for all of it to be analyzed, even by several humans. However,
real-time automatic assessment of imagery using high-speed
computers remains a challenge, and much of the detailed interpretation must be done manually.
Early Warning and Sea Surveillance. Airborne radar can detect
low-flying aircraft and surface vessels at far greater ranges than
can a radar system on the ground or one located on the mast of
a ship. Accordingly, to provide early warning for the approach
of hostile aircraft and missiles and to maintain surveillance
over the seas radars are placed in high-flying loitering aircraft
such as the Hawkeye system and airborne warning and control
system (AWACS).
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Because these aircraft are large and slow, the radars they carry
can employ antennas large enough to provide high angular
resolution while operating at frequencies low enough that
atmospheric attenuation is negligible. They can also transmit
very high powers.
They provide 360 coverage, detecting low-flying aircraft out
to the radar horizon (which at an altitude of 10,000 m is more
than 300 km) and higher altitude targets at substantially greater
ranges. In addition, they can simultaneously track hundreds of
targets.
Air-to-Ground Surveillance and Battle Management. Very
much as AWACS provides surveillance over a vast air space,
airborne radar can also provide surveillance over a vast area
on the ground. These radars combine high-resolution imaging
with an ability to detect ground-moving targets. This is quite
an accomplishment in a single system since the requirement
to support these two modes results in very different specifications. The moving targets are located more accurately using
monopulse, and research has shown that advanced techniques
such as displaced phase center antennas (DPCA) and spacetime adaptive processing (STAP) can help to make targets easier
to detect against a background of clutter.
Examples of such system include JSTARS, SENTINEL, and AN/
AP-12. JSTARS is equipped with a long electronically steered
side-looking antenna (Fig. 3-18) and detects and tracks moving
targets on the ground with moving target indication (MTI) and
detects stationary targets with SAR.
Flying in a racetrack pattern at an altitude of more than 10,000 m
and standing off more than 150 km behind a hostile border,
the radar can maintain surveillance over a region extending a
150 km or more miles into enemy territory. Through secure communication links, Joint STARS can provide fully processed radar
data to an unlimited number of control stations on the ground.
Low-Altitude Air and Sea Surveillance. Maritime or sea surveillance continues to be an important function in which surface
targets from submarine periscopes to frigates are detected,
tracked and, in the case of ships, classified. High resolution is
required to eliminate clutter, to enable the detection of small
targets, and to provide the detail necessary for small boat and
ship classification.
A novel surveillance application of airborne radar is interdiction of smugglers at sea, especially those carrying drugs. For
example, the Customs Service implemented a radar fence
along the southern border of the United States by placing
large-reflector, long-range surveillance radars in tethered balloons (Fig. 3-19), and there are similar projects elsewhere in the
world. The relatively stable airborne platform is more suited to
the detection of moving targets against a background of sea
clutter. Here the craft are often smaller and fast-moving.
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dBsm
Target
5
10 15
Meters
1D Signature
2D Signature
Aim
Point
Lead
Angle
Target
47
3. If the missile is not in the radar beam at the time, the messages
are received via the radar antennas sidelobes.
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Area Map
Detailed Map
Target
Area
1m
4m
Offset
Approach
Course
Target
4.
Bomb
Release
1.
Update
Velocity
2.
Survey
Target Area
Bo
g
bin
Ru
3.
Designate
Target
Figure 3-26. In this representative blind bombing run, the strike aircraft scores a direct hit from an offset approach course by turning radar on
justthree times.
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3.8 Summary
In this chapter it has been possible to look only briefly at just a
small range of representative applications. Radar systems come
in a wide variety of designs, each tailored to a very specific
application.
Further Reading
J. A. Scheer and W. L. Melvin (eds.), Principles of Modern Radar
Volume 3: Applications, SciTech-IET, 2014.