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A Nonmathematical
Approach to Radar
NIMROD cockpit
This chapter begins by briefly describing the phasor. To demonstrate its application, phasors are then used to explain several
basic concepts that are essential to understanding material presented in later chapters. In addition, the decibel (dB) is introduced. It is necessary to become familiar with the dB because
it is such a universal measure of many quantities used in radar.
Phase
X
63
64
A
A sin kt
A sin kt
A
Time
kt
kt
Figure 5-2. For a sine wave, projection of the phasor onto the y axis gives the signals instantaneous amplitude.
A
A
A
y
+
Time
Strobe
Light
Phase
x
In the interest of simplicity, the arrow is drawn in a fixed position. It can be thought of as illuminated by a strobe light that
flashes on at exactly the same point in every cycle. The strobe
point is the instant the arrow would have crossed the x axis
had the signal the arrow represents been in phase with a reference signal of the same frequency (Fig. 5-4). In other words,
the strobe light is the reference signal or, in radar parlance, the
local oscillator (LO) signal.
The angle the arrow makes with the x axis, therefore, corresponds to the signals phaseand hence the name, phasor. If
the signal is in phase with the reference, the phasor will line
65
(Leading)
(Lagging)
In phase
with reference
In quadrature
with reference
= 2 f
= 2f
R
t
A+B
B
A
A+B
B
A
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d1
d2
Sum
2
1
1
Sum
2
d1 d2 ~
2
d1 ~
d2
B
B
A
B
A
A
B
Time 1
Time 2
Time 3
Time 4
Mixer
B
Received
Signal, fs
Extract
Amplitude
Fluctuation*
fB < fA
Local
Oscillator
first (Fig. 5-12). If the difference is negative and the second frequency is now lower, the second phasor will rotate clockwise
relative to the first.
As the phasors slip into and out of phase, the amplitude of
their sum fluctuates (or is modulated) at a rate equal to the
difference between the two frequencies. The phase of the sum
also is modulated at this rate. It falls behind during one-half
of the differencefrequency cycle and slides ahead during the
other half. As the phase changes, the rate of rotation of the sum
phasor changes: the frequency of the signal is also modulated.
Received
Signal, fIF
(fIF = fs fLO)
fLO
fB > fA
67
Fluctuation
in phase
68
fs1
Time
fLO
Time
Local
Oscillator
Desired
Signal
Interfering
Image
fLO
fs2
fs1
fIF
fIF
Frequency
SL
SU
SU
SL
SU
69
SL
SU
SL
Figure 5-17. If two counterrotating phasors, SL and SU, are added to a third phasor, C, and their phases and frequencies are such that all pass through
the same axis together, their sum will be a pure amplitude modulated signal.
Amplitude
Carrier (C)
SL
Su
fm
fC
fm
Frequency
C
SL
C
SU
Time
70
SU
C
Sum
SL
The production of sidebands by the transmitter pulsed modulation in some cases causes echoes from a target and a ground
patch to be passed by the same Doppler filter even though
they have different Doppler frequencies (see Chapter 23 for
further details).
mt
Echo 3
Echo 4
Echo 2
2
1
Echo 1
Transmitted Signal
Echo 8
Echo 5
Echo 6
Echo 7
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By sensing the progressive phase shift, the radar can produce a video signal whose amplitude fluctuates at the targets
Doppler frequency. The signal is illustrated for positive and
negative Doppler shifts in Figure 5-23. As the figure clearly
shows, however, the fluctuations in the amplitude of this
signal are the same for both positive and negative Doppler
shifts.
If both the I and Q components of the phase shift are sensed
the difference between positive and negative Doppler frequencies may be readily determined. The fluctuation of the
Q component will lag behind the fluctuation of the I component if the Doppler shift is positive (Fig. 5-24). Whereas the
Q component will lead the fluctuation of the I component if
the Doppler shift is negative (Fig. 5-25).
Differentiating between Signals and Images: Image
Rejection. Just as it is possible to distinguish between positive and negative Doppler frequencies by resolving the
received signals into I and Q components when they are
converted from IF to video frequencies, image frequencies
can be differentiated from signals when the radar return is
translated from the radars operating frequency to IF. As the
phasor diagram of Figure 5-26 illustrates, if a signals frequency is higher than the LO frequency the Q component of
the mixers output will lag 90 behind the I component. Yet if
the signals frequency is lower than the LO frequency the Q
component will lead the I component by 90. This difference
can be exploited in the design of a receivers mixer stage to
reject images.
Positive Shift
2
3
1
2
4
I1
I2
5
6
8
7
I2
1
I1
I
7
Time
Negative Shift
7
6
Time
1
2
Positive Shift
3Q
I1
8
90
2
Time
3
1
I2
Q1
Time
5
LO
8
7
H
fLO
fIF
fIF
Frequency
1
Negative Shift
L
Q
I2
Q1
4
3
Q2
I
7
Q
I
(+)
()
I1
4
90
1
2
(+)
7
8
Q Leads I by 90
Q Lags I by 90
Figure 5-26. The mixer outputs Q component will lead the in-phase
component if the frequency of the received signal is lower than fLO and
will lag behind it if the frequency of the received signal is higher than fLO.
()
1
2
72
he decibel (dB) is one of the most widely used tools in the design
and construction of radar systems. If you are already familiar with decibels, can readily translate to and from them, and
feel at ease when the experts start throwing them about, then
skip this panel. Otherwise, you will find the few minutes it
takes you to read it well worthwhile.
What Decibels Are. The decibel is a logarithmic unit originally devised to express power ratios but is also used today to
express a variety of other ratios. Specifically,
Power ratio in dB = 10 log10
P2
P1
where P2 and P1 are the two power levels being compared. For
example, if P2/P1 is 1000 then the power ratio in decibels is 30.
Origin. Named after Alexander Graham Bell, the unit originated
as a measure of attenuation in telephone cable, the ratio of the
power of the signal emerging from a cable to the power of the
signal fed in at the other end. It so happened that 1 decibel
almost exactly equaled the attenuation of 1 mile of standard
telephone cable, the unit used until the decibel came along.
Also, one decibel relative to the threshold of hearing turned
out to be very nearly the smallest ratio of audio-power levels
that could be discerned by the human ear, so the dB was soon
also adopted in acoustics. From telephone communications,
the dB was quite naturally passed on to radio communications
and thence to radar.
dB
10
20
40
60
Power Ratio
80
100
Another advantage also stems from the decibels logarithmic nature: two numbers expressed as logarithms can be
multiplied by simply adding the logarithms. Expressing
ratios in decibels therefore makes compound power ratios
easier to work with. Multiplying 2500/1 by 63/1 in your
head, for example, isnt particularly easy. Yet when these
same ratios are expressed in decibels, there is nothing to it:
34 + 18 = 52 dB.
2,500 63
=157,500
1
1
34 dB+18 dB=52 dB
1 Mile
Advantages. Several features of the decibel make it particularly useful to the radar engineer. First, since the decibel is logarithmic, it greatly reduces the size of the numbers
required to express large ratios.
A power ratio of 2 to 1 is 3 dB, yet a ratio of 10,000,000 to 1
is only 70 dB. Since the power levels encountered in a radar
cover a tremendous range, the compression in the sheer size
of numbers that decibels provide is extremely valuable.
In radar, detection performance varies inversely proportional
with the fourth power of range. Thus, all other parameters
being the same, a change in range from, say, 1 km to 10 km
causes a change in detection performance by a factor of 10,000
and such large numbers are typical of radar calculations. In
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Power Ratio
dB
1
1.26
1.6
2
2.5
3.2
4
5
6.3
8
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
P2
= dB
P1
Nevertheless, for the accuracy you will normally want, its not
necessary to have a calculator. With the following method,
you can do it all in your headprovided you have memorized
a few simple numbers.
Returning to our example, if we look up the decibel equivalent of the basic power ratio, 2.5, (or better yet our memory)
we find that it is 4 dB. So, expressed in decibels, the complete
power ratio, 2.5 103, is 34 dB.
Basic
Power
Ratio
2,500 =
2500 = 2.5 10
2.5
Ones
e
es
Place
Power
of 10
103
34 dB
Converting from dB to Power Ratios. To convert from decibels to a power ratio, you can also use a calculator. In this case,
you divide the number of decibels by 10 to get the power of 10
and then raise 10 to that power to get the power ratio.
But you can make the conversion just as easily in your head
using the procedure outlined in the preceding paragraphs in
reverse.
Power Ratio
1
10
100
1000
10,000,000
Power of 10
dB
0
1
2
3
7
0
10
20
30
70
The basic power ratio, of course, may have any value from 1 to
(but not including) 10. So the digit in the ones place can be any
number from 0 through 9.999.
The following table gives the basic power ratios for 0 to 9 dB.
To simplify the table, all but the ratio for 1 dB have been
rounded off to two digits. If you want to become adroit in the
use of decibels, you should memorize these ratios.
Suppose, for example, you want to convert 36 dB to the corresponding power ratio. The digit in the ones place, 6, is the
dB equivalent of a power ratio of 4. The digit to the left of
the ones place, 3, is the power of 10. The power ratio, then, is
4 103 = 4,000.
Ones
Place
36 dB
103
4,000
Basic Power
Ratio
Power of 10
74
20
10
10
20
30
103
102
101
100
101
102
103
0.001
0.01
0.1
1
Power Ratios
10
100
1000
Output power
Input power
If the output power is 250 times the input power, the gain is
250. This ratio (250 to 1) is 24 dB.
Loss is the term for a decrease in power. According to convention, it is the ratio of input power to output powerjust the
opposite of gain.
Loss=
Input power
Output power
times the current, I, flowing through it: P = VI. But the current
is equal to the voltage divided by the resistance: I = V/R. So the
power is equal to (V 2/R).
Accordingly, the power output of a circuit equals (V0)2/R, and
the power input equals (Vi )2/ R. If the circuits input and output
impedances are the same, the gain is (V0 )2/(Vi )2. Expressed in
decibels, then, the gain is
2
V
V
G = 10 log10 0 = 20 log10 0
Vi
Vi
5.5 Summary
This chapter introduced the phasor as a powerful tool for
visualizing phase and frequency relationships. Its length
corresponds to amplitude; its rate of rotation to frequency;
and its angle to phase. The phasor can be drawn in a fixed
position by thinking of it as being illuminated by a strobe
light that flashes on at the same point in every cycle. If the
signal is in phase with the reference, it is drawn horizontally.
If signals of the same frequency are combined, the amplitude
of the sum will depend on the relative phases of the signals.
Because of this dependence, even a very slight change in
target aspect can cause a targets echoes to scintillate.
If signals of different frequency are combined, their sum can
be visualized by assuming that the strobe is synchronized
with the rotation of one of the phasors, causing it to appear
fixed. The other then rotates at the difference frequency.
The amplitude and phase of the sum will be modulated at
a rate equal to the difference between the frequencies. The
phase modulation can be minimized by making the second
signal much stronger than the first. By extracting the amplitude modulation, the first signal can be translated to the difference frequency. At the same time, however, a signal whose
frequency is offset from that of the first signal by the same
amount in the opposite direction (image) will also be translated to the difference frequency.
Whenever a carrier signals amplitude is modulated, two sideband signals are produced. Their frequencies are separated
from the carrier by the modulation frequency.
Resolution of a signal into in-phase and quadrature components can be visualized by projecting the phasor representing
the signal onto the x and y coordinates. Resolving the IF output
of a receiver into I and Q components when it is converted to
video enables a digital filter to differentiate between positive
and negative Doppler frequencies.
The decibel was devised to express power ratios. Being logarithmic, it greatly compresses the numbers needed to express
values having a wide dynamic range.
Further Reading
J. W. Nilsson and S. Reidel, Sinusoidal Steady-State Analysis,
chapter 9 in Electric Circuits, Prentice-Hall, 2011.
3 dB = 2
P2
P1
Power ratio in terms of voltages
dB = 10 log10
dB = 20 log10
1 dB = 1
V2
V1
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