FOPEN Radar for UGS Applications
Sergio Gallone
Selex Sistemi Integrati, Roma, Italy
sgallone@selex-si.com
Abstract
The very short range detection devices are the basic
elements of Homeland protection and Homeland security
systems. The Unattended Ground Sensors (UGS) are widely
used to protect critical area and for border surveillance, in
open area perimeters. FOliage PENetrating (FOPEN) radar
are needed when the areas or the borders to control are
located inside the forest or jungle, in both northern borders or
equatorial locations.
In this paper a Ground Moving Target (GMT) radar,
working at UHF frequencies, battery operated, is presented
together with the requirements and the performances
obtained.
Keywords: FOPEN, UGS, GMT, LPI, SUF, low power.
1. Introduction
The surveillance of critical perimeters is one of the most
important issues in Homeland defence and Homeland
protection systems. The ground surveillance needs are
relevant to border protection applications (hidden
immigration, illegal traffic, narcotraffic), but include also
small areas protection (critical infrastructure, military/civilian
posts) that can be fixed or mobile.
The attention is for sensors able to operate in critical
environment, such as forest or jungle domains, and many
studies have been performed, in this direction, mainly using
aerial platform equipped with SAR.
The focus is now for ground based systems and/or
sensors with capabilities to detect walking personnel and
moving vehicles.
Logistics constraints drive the technology to very low
power devices, that are able to operate for several months or
years, without maintenance.
Another important issue is, together with a good
probability of detection, the low false alarm probability, that
is requested to be lowered up to 1 false alarm per day, or
lower, even in presence of specific weather conditions (rain,
wind) and/or local seasonal fauna.
2. Background
Fixed radars for border control are usually in X, Ku band,
but, because of the attenuation they suffer from foliage, they
can not be used for FOPEN applications.
The ability of traditional microwave radars in operating
in an environment with dense foliage is severely limited by
foliage backscatter and attenuation of microwave frequencies
through foliage [1]. As attenuation falls with increasing
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978-1-4244-8443-0/11/$26.00 2011 IEEE

wavelength, lower frequencies such as those in the VHF and
UHF bands (30MHz - 1000MHz) may be suitable for FOPEN
radar applications [2,3,6].
FOPEN SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) systems started
to be used in the early 1990s. They are usually mounted on
manned or unmanned aircraft and mainly address illegal
activity control and search&rescue operations.
However the use of airborne platforms to perform
surveillance, can be used for missions on spot because it is
not practical or cost/effective for continuous surveillance.
3. Effects of the environment
In dense foliage environments the main clutter effects
are the backscatter and the attenuation.
Backscatter
The fixed clutter returns can have a DC component (zero
Doppler) raising up to 60-70 dB above the noise level and the
spectra amplitude and shape do not have large variations with
frequency, but they depend mainly on the wind [5].
Considering the measurement reported in [5] of the
backscatter Doppler spectra, in order to perform efficient
clutter rejection, two values of thresholds can be used: i.e.
1m/s in case of light air, 2m/s in case of windy/gale.
Attenuation
The attenuation depends mainly on the frequency used
and the grazing angle, even if small variations are reported
with different polarization [3]. Many studies have been
carried out for SAR application and several studies report
data for attenuation measured directly at ground level [3,4,6].
The total attenuation, taking in account the major effects
of the environment for a ground radar, can be summarized as
follows:
L t = Lr Lh L f
where:
1
Lr = is the attenuation due to
(4R )2 2
distance R,
4
hh
L h = 4 t r is the attenuation due to the
R
ground reflection at the heights of the antenna
(hr) and the target (ht), for the wavelength ,
 Lf is the attenuation due to the foliage: it
depends on the distance, the polarization and the
forest type. It depends also on the distribution of
the trees and the diameter of the musts, that can
limit the line of sight, together with the height
and density of lower canopy level.
Other effects that increase the losses in propagation are
not taken in account, at the moment, and will be addressed in
future studies.
4. Surveillance Unattended FOPEN Radar
In this section the Surveillance Unattended FOPEN
(SUF) radar is presented.
4.1. System requirements/constraints
The main requirements/constraints addressed are the
followings:
The range of the detections is reduced by:
o The attenuation due to foliage,
o The low antenna height, that is limited to 1-2
meters for logistic purposes,
The power consumption must be kept at minimum level
(several tens of mW), also considering that photovoltaic
cell are not suitable for installation on the ground in the
forest,
As consequence of the previous point the emitted power
must be kept at a level of several mW,
Camouflage (concealable) and anti-tamper are often
required,
Very low cost is a mandatory requirement
Low Probability of Intercept (LPI) capabilities
Targets of interest include walking personnel and moving
vehicles
4.2. System description
The SUF radar operates at UHF frequencies, that offer a
good compromise between the foliage penetration capability
and the antenna dimension. The FMCW configuration permits
a combination of a simple low power transmitter together
with simplified receiver and A/D conversion circuits. The
Doppler resolution is of 0.5m/s or better (depending on the
duration of the CPI). The CFAR processing is performed in
range and Doppler, and low Doppler clutter maps are
computed. The detection decision function uses different
thresholds, both in Doppler and amplitude, to reduce the false
alarm rate even if the weather condition changes. Dedicated
algorithms are used in the extraction function to further
reduce the probability of false alarms. The detections
extracted are sent, via the transmission link, to the master
stations for subsequent elaboration (i.e. data combining)
and/or operator display. The information of the detections
(range, Doppler and amplitude) are combined with the
information of the neighbour radar to extract the absolute
position of the targets, if required.
The main characteristics of the radar are shown in tab.1.

If the sensors are installed in remote areas, the
unattended operation camouflage and low probability of
detection are usually mandatory.
Camouflage
The camouflage is easily realized considering that the
sensors lie on ground in the forest together with plants and
small trees. The antenna and the electronics at the basement
can be concealed, for example, with synthetic plant, Dracaena
like (Tree of happiness) .
LPI capabilities
In this document, the LPI is considered the capability not
to be detected before the target is detected: the power level at
the range of the detection should not trigger a ESM device.
In tab. 2 the power budget is reported, for a ESM, with a
sensitivity of -80dBm, and it shows enough margin for the
range up to 100 meters.
Cluster operation
The sensors operates in cluster, and they are connected
via a low power RF link, operating at UHF. The data of the
SUF radar can be combined with the data of other UGS
sensors (infrared, acoustic, seismic), or connected to an
existing network, to perform a more reliable detection system.
In fig.1 an example of sensors network is reported. As
shown, adjacent sensor nodes are connected together and the
information are sent, to the master station, via the short range
radio link; the master station performs data fusion and
medium range connection with the other master stations, or
the Command and Control centre. In case of long range
connection the master stations are connected via radio link
repeaters or satellite connections.
4.1. System performances
The radar performances, summarized in tab. 3, are
reported assuming an example of site operation as follows:
The antenna height is 1 meter
People walking target has a RCS of 1 sqm and a
speed of 1.5m/s, calm air condition
The total attenuation loss of the foliage is 24 dB,
for 100m.
Table 1. SUF radar characteristics
Parameter Value
Frequency band UHF
Instantaneous BW 7.5-15MHz
Transmitter type FMCW
Azimuth BW 360 deg
Radar cell 10-20m
Power supply 20 or 200 W/h battery
pack
 management) can be mitigated by the use of photovoltaic
cells and/or different antenna installations.

References

Table 2. LPI power budget [1] B. T. Binder, M. F. Toups, S. Ayasli, and E. M. Adams,
SAR Foliage Penetration Phenomenology of Tropical Rain
Parameter Level Forest and Northern U.S. Forest, Radar Conference, 1995.,
EIRP +4dBm Record of the IEEE 1995 International, 8-11 May 1995
Range Loss (100m) -40dB pp 158 163.
Height Loss -12dB [2] Y. Lu, Y. Cheng, W. Liu, H. W. Seah, H. L. Chan, L. C.
Foliage loss -12dB Tai', M. Lesturgie, P. Borderies, R. Guern2, Low Frequency
(/4)2 -24dB Radar Phenomenology Study in Equatorial Vegetation
Tot. level -84dBm Preliminary Results, Radar Conference 2002, 15-17 Oct.
ESM Sensitivity -80dBm 2002 pp: 70.
Margin 4dB [3] M. E. Davis, Developments In Foliage Penetration Radar
Radar Conference 2010 IEEE, 10-14 May 2010
pp: 1233, Washington.
Table 3. SUF radar performances
[4] M. N. Roy, S. Swamp, R. K. Tewari, Radio Wave
Propagation Through Rain Forests of India, IEEE
Parameter Value
Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 38, no. 4,
Maximum range 300m
April 1990
Range accuracy 3m
[5] J. B. Billingsley, Low-Angle Radar Land Clutter,
Doppler filter resolution <0.5m/s SciTech. Pub. Inc., 2001, New York
Update interval 1 second [6] M. E. Davis, Foliage Penetration Radar: Detection and
Detection range 50-100m walking people Characterization of Objects Under Trees, SciTech. Pub. Inc.,
75-150m moving vehicle NY, 2011, New York

Fig.1. Sensors network

5. Conclusions
In this paper the basic characteristics of the SUF radar,
used for detection of moving targets, people or vehicles, in
dense forest environment have been considered. The
presented sensor is used in cluster, connected with other
sensors, employed in virtual fences to be used for border
control or for critical infrastructure protection. Even if the
work presented is referred to the forest environment, the
described sensor is suitable to operate also in different
installations, considering, for example, riverside or sea
harbour protection applications; in these cases the different
environmental conditions get better the radar performances;
in addition, several other constraints (for example the power