RANGE CORRELATION EFFECTS IN RADARS
Mervin C. Budge, Jr. and clutter natural spectrum. the received spectrum will also have
Dynetics, Inc., Huntsville, AL
Mickie P.Burt
Missile and Space Intelligence Center, Redstone Arsenal, AL
ABSTRACT
This paper addresses the problem of characterizing the ef-
fects of range correlation and local oscillator phase noise on the in-
termediate frequency spectrum in a coherent, continuous wave or
pulsed Doppler radar. Since the phase noise is a stochastic process,
the problem is defined in a stochastic processes context and a rea-
sonable set of assumptions are imposed to produce a general,
straight forward and easily understood solution. The solution
clearly indicates how the natural spectrum of the scatterer, the phase
noise spectrum and range correlation combine to produce the inter-
mediate fquency spectrum. A specific example is provided for the
case of a pulsed Doppler radar. Finally, the results derived in this
paper are compared to the fairly widely accepted formulation that is
based on the assumption that the phase noise is deterministic.
I"
It is well known that the performance of continuous wave
(CW) and pulsed Doppler radars in the presence of clutter is limited
by the phase and amplitude modulation noise sidebands of the local
oscillator (Lo)signal used to generate the transmittedsignal, and
convert the received signal to some intermediatefrequency (IF).
The net effect of the noise sidebands is to spread clutter energy into
the frequency region of the target signal and potentially obscure the
target return or. at least, reduce the target signal-toclutter (9C)ratio.
'zhe above is illustrated in Figure 1. In Figure 1 fo is the carrier
frequency and f D 4 the target Doppler frequency. It is assumed
that the clutter is at zero Doppler.
Clutter
Target
f0 fo jo+fD
a) Ideal transmitted signal b) Receivedsignal assodated
with ideal transmitted signal
f0 j: joijD
c) 'Practical' transmitted signal d) Received signal associated with
that includes noise sidebands 'pradical' transmitted signal
-
Figure I Transmined and Received Signal Spectra
Figure l a illustrates an ideal transmitted signal spectrum
while Figure 1 b is the spectrum of its associated target and clutter
return signal. The spectral spreading on the returned signal is that
caused by motion of the various scatterers of the target and clutter.
This spread is termed the "natural spectrum" of the target and clut-
ter. Figure IC illustratesthe spectrum of a "practical"transmitted
signal and Figure Id is the spectrum of its associated target and
clutter return signal. The spread and flat regions of the transmit sig-
nal are caused by the noise sidebands [l-51. Since the received
0-7803-0934493/S3.00@ 1993 IEEE
spectrum is the convolution of the transmit spectrum with the target
more spread and flat regions when compared to those caused by the
ideal transmitted signal. In the example of Figure Id, the spread on
the transmit signal and the target Doppler frequency are such that the
target signal is almost obscured by the clutter signal.
While Figure Id is representative of the spectrum of the re-
ceiver input it might not be representativeof the spectrum at the sig-
nal processor input. This is due to a filtering effect termed range
correlation [1-51. The filtering effect is a high pass type and is
caused by correlation between the phase noise on the LO signal and
the phase noise on the received signal. The word range in the term
range correlation derives from the fact that the amount of correla-
tion, and thus the amount of filtering, depends upon the range of the
target or clutter cell being illuminated,i.e. the time delay between the
transmitted and received signals. Specifically,the correlation and
amount of filtering is large at short ranges and becomes smaller as
range increases since the correlation of the transmittedsignal phase
noise with the receiver oscillator phase noise is strongest for short
time delays.
The problem of range correlation and its effect has been ad-
dressed by several authors [ 1-51. However, most of the approaches
and their proposed solutions have been based on a deterministic
model of phase noise. In fact, the approaches assume a sinusoidal
phase modulation as the phase noise.
In actuality the phase noise is not deterministicbut is a
stochastic process. Therefore the characterizationof range correla-
tion should also be cast as a stochastic processes problem. In his
1966 paper [11, Raven formulated the range correlation problem in
such a manner but failed to provide an easily used solution. In this
paper we impose a reasonable set of approximationsthat allow the
stochastic formulation of the range correlation problem to be solved
in terms of power spectra. The solution provides a straight forward
method for combining phase noise spectra, natural clutter (and tar-
get) spectra and range correlation effects to produce the spectrum at
the input to the signal processor, termed the IF spectrum herein.
This paper is divided into five sections including this intro-
ductory section. The second section contains a formulation of the
range correlation problem and the third section contains a discussion
of the solution. A specific example is provided in the fourth section
and the paper closes with a summary.
A functional block diagram of the radar configurationcon-
sidered in this paper is shown in Figure 2. The transmitted signal,
v(t), can be represented by
where fo is the carrier frequency and $(t) is a random phase per-
turbation that is referred to as the phase noise on the carrier. The
phase noise is what gives rise to phase noise sidebands on the
transmitted signal and causes the spectral spreading of the transmit-
ted signal that was discussed in the introduction. The primary con-
tributor to the phase noise is the local oscillator (LO). The transmit-
ter elements (modulator, amplifiers, power tube, etc.) also add phase
noise to the transmitted signal but their contributionsare usually
negligible compared to that of the LO and will be ignored in this
paper.
The amplitude term, 4, in Equation (1) accounts for factors
such as transmit power, antenna gain, and losses. In practice A,,
also has a random component, caused by the LO and transmitter,
that is referred to as amplitude noise. As with phase noise, it will
cause spectral spreading of the transmitted signal. However, its
contribution to the spreading is small when compared to that of the
phase noise [1,2]. As a result, the effects of amplitude noise are not
considered in this paper.
212

--
-
RECEIVER
.I
Figure 2 - Functional Radar Block Diugram
In this paper it is assumed that @ ( t )is a zero mean, station-
ary stochastic process with autocorrelation
R,(T) = E(@(t+ z)#(t)}.
The associakd phase noise spectrum is given by
where 3[*]denotes the Fourier transform.
The signal retumed from a scatterer (target or clutter) at
range R can he written as
In (4). A, is the return signal magnitude that depends upon A,,. the
average radar cross-section of the scatterer, the range to the scatterer
and other factors associated with the radar range equation [5].
The term c(r) is a stochastic process that describes the spec-
tral characteristicsof the scatterer. It is assumed to be zero mean
and stationary with autocorrelation
W)
= E k ( t + z)c(t))
and power spectrum
The process c ( t ) is assumed independent of @ ( t )and 8. C(f)is
the natural spectrum of the scatterer and is a normalized quantity
such that
00
jC(f.)df = 1.
-_
As used in Equation (4). C ( f )is centered at a frequency of zero.
The actual center of the natural spectrum is given by fD, the mean
Doppler frequency of the scatterer.
The term td is the round hip time delay to the scatterer and
is given by td = 2 R / c where c is the speed of light. The term 8 is a
random phase that accounts for the round trip delay to the scatterer
( 2@,,td) and the phase shift that occurs when the transmitted signal
is reflected from the scatterer. 8 is a zero mean random variable that
is independent of #(t) and c(t).
The mixing or heterodyning signal, h(r), (output of side step
mixer of Figure 2 ) is given by
h ( t )= p i 2 ~ ( f o - f ~ ) f - i W
Implicit in the above definition is that the coherent, or side step, os-
cillator (COHO) does not add any phase noise to the heterodyning
signal.
The IF signal out of the receiver mixer, x ( t ) , the signal of
interest, is given by
x(t) = A,c(t)e-iWfo-/N' P+ieeiAW) (9)
where A@(t)= @ ( t- t d )- @ ( t )is the residual phase noise after
mixing.
A qualitative characterizationof the relation between scatterer
range and phase noise effects can be gleaned from examining
Equation (9). Indeed, as the scatterer range, R, goes to zero, td ap-
proaches zero and the residual phase noise, A@(t), approaches zero.
'Ihis means that the term dA'(')approaches one and that the phase
noise will not be a contributor to the IF signal. Stated another way,
as the scatterer range decreases the phase noise contribution is fil-
(2) tered from the IF signal. Conversely, as R increases @(t- 2,) and
#(t) diverge, in a statistical sense. and the phase noise becomes a
larger contributor to the signal at IF; i.e., the phase noise is not
heavily filtered.
In order to provide a more quantitativecharacterizationof the
relation between scatterer range and phase noise effects, and to show
the range dependent fdtering effects discussed above, it is necessary
to determine the spectrum of the signal x(r). Furthermore, it is de-
sirable to characterize the spectrum of x ( t ) in terms of the phase
noise spectrum, S,(f), the clutter spectrum, C(f).and a third term
that depends on scatterer range. This is the subject of the next
section.
SOLUTION
In practical situations the variance of the phase noise, Rg(0).
is very small relative to one. This property allows us to approxi-
mate eJA'(') by the fist two terms of its Taylor series and write
X(t) as
(5)
With this we can write the autocorrelationof x(t) as
R,(t)= E { x ( t + z ) x * ( t ) }
= P,(R)R,(r){l+ Rh)(z)}ei2n(fjF+fD)r' (11)
In Equation (11) the symbol * denotes the conjugate operation. The
term P,(R)= A,' is the average power returned from the scatterer.
(7) It is written as a function of range, R,to call attention to the fact that
this parameter depends upon the range to the scatterer.
The spectrum of the IF signal, x(t), is determined by find-
ing the Fourier transform of RJz) to yield
*
In Equation (12). the symbol denotes convolution. The convo-
lution with S(f - fIF - fD> in Equation (12) simply manslates the
spectrum so that it is centered at the IF. In subsequent equations
this convolution will be dropped with the tacit assumption that the
spectrum is centered at the IF. With this &(f) becomes
In Equation (13). the first term is the IF signal spectrum of the
(8)
213
scatkm due to the Carrier and the second term is the IF signal spec-
trum of the scatterer due to the phase noise sidebands.
To complete the characterizationof the IF signal spect” it
is neceSSBfy to express SA, (f)in terms of S, (f). We accomplish
this by fmt expressingthe autocorrelationof A#(r) in terms of the
autoconelation of #(t) and then finding its Fourier transform.
Proceeding we get
pulses. In the case of ground clutter this means that the return at any
particular time will consist of the sum of returns from clutter scat-
terers located at ranges of Ro + kAR where AR is the range extent of
a PIU and k is an integer. If we are interested in the clutter returned
over a radar pulse width then the ranges of interest, %, in the inte-
grals of Equation (18) are given by
% =[(%+U) 5 R S ( R +~ ~R+M)I k = 0,i,...I (19)

where 89 is the range extent of a pulse and 4 is the range corre-

sponding to the spacing between the lead edge of the transmitted
pulse and the start of the clutter scatterers of interest With the
and above, the spectrum at the IF is given by
(15) o. &+kAR+&t
S,(f) = P,(R)dR
or. with zd = 2R/c k=O Ro+kAR
o. &+kAR+6R
sA#(f) = S,(f)[4h2 2nRf/c]- (16) + C(f)*S,(f)z 14Pr(R)sin22zRf /c dR (20)
k=O &+U
The bracketed term in Equation (16) embodies the effects of range
delay, or range correlation, on the IF spectrum.
SubstitutingEquation (16) into Equation (13) yields For ground clutter Pr(R) is given by
SX(f,R) = Pr(R)C(f) PG G a2ac
(17)
+ PrCR)C(fW+(f{4sin2 2Mf/c]’ = &k$GjL .
In Equation (17) the IF spectrum is written as an explicit function of In (21) PT is the peak transmit power, G is the transmit antenna
R to reinforce the fact that the magnitude and shape of the IF spec- gain, GR is the receive antenna gain, A is the radar wavelength, a,
trum depends upon the range to the scatmer. The earlier, qualitative is the average radar cross-section (RCS)of the clutter cell dR wide,
discussions conceming the relation between scatterer range and the L represents the transmit and receive losses andflR) accounts for
phase noise contribution to the IF spectrum are apparent from
Equation (17). SpeiSically. as the range to the scatterer decreases, propagation losses [5.6]. In general C, and CR will be a function
the contribution of phase noise to the IF spectrum also decreases. of elevation angle from the radar to the clutter scatterer, which will
Equation (17) describes the IF spectrum for a scatterer lo- change with range to the clutter scatterer. If the clutter scatterers of
cated at a specific range. For ground clutter (and other extended tar- interest are in the antenna sidelobes or strictly in the main beam the
gets) there will be many scaaerers at various ranges whose returns variation of GT and GR with range can be neglected. The propaga-
will add in some way to produce an overall IF spectrum. If we in- tion loss term,JR). is a complex function of range. However, for
voke the standard assumption that the reflection coefficients of the high pulse repetition frequency (PRF)radars it will be approxi-
scatterers am unmlated random variables, then the overall IF mately constant over the clutter ranges of interest. Based on the
spectrum can be found by summing the IF spectra for the various above arguments, the parameters G , GR andJR) will be assumed
scatterers. In equation form this can be writren 8s constant in this analysis.
With the assumptions stated above, PJR) can be written as

K
P,.(R) = - (22)
R3
and S, (f)becomes

(23)
where means that the integral is evaluated over the ranges of
interest. In general, the ranges of interest will depend upon the ter-
rain characteristics,radar waveform, antenna properties. receiver where
gating and other parameters. A speclfic example of the spectrum
for a pulsed Doppler waveform and a smooth earth is developed in
the next section.

EXAMPLE
and
Equation (18) provided a general representation for the
specmun at the IF. In this section we consider the specific case of a
pulsed Doppler radar and ground clutter. Because of the relatively
short pulse repetition intend (PIU)used in pulsed Doppler radars,
the Signal at any time is the sum of returns from many transmitted or

214
 K "
f)= -E
HR': G(R, + kAR + SR)- G(Ro+ M ) (26)
pm k=O
-80 -
with

8
E
'j -1m-

In Equation (27) ci(x) is the cosine integral defmed in [7] as E

2
- cost -110-

ci(r:) = -I-&.
x t
-120-

In Equation (23), 2 S O ( f )is the spectrum at the IF due to -130'

loa 101 102 IW iw 105 10s 10'
phase noise if there were no range correlationeffects. HR(f) is a offset f"IF (Hz)
filter function that accounts for the effects of range correlation.
Figure 3 contains a plot of HR(f) for the case of a radar
-
Figure 4 IF Phase N o t e Spectrum Without Range Correlation
Egects
with a 100 KHz PFW and a 10% duty cycle. It also assumes the
return is centered in the PRI. As mentioned earlier, and indicated by
Figure 3. the effect of range correlation is to provide a high pass
type filtering effect of the phase noise spectrum which tends to re-
duce the effects of phase noise at frequencies close to the IF. This
point is further illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. Figure 4 contains a -130
plot of the IF phase noise spectrum when range correlation effects -135
are omitted and Figure 5 contains a similar spectrum when range
correlation effects are considered. The phase noise spectrum,
SO(f),used in Figures 4 and 5 is a generic spectrum that is consis-
tent with spectra provided in several references [ 1.2,4,5]. As can be
seen from Figures 4 and 5 (and Figure 3). range correlation causes
signiftcant attenuation of the low frequencycomponents of the
phase noise spectrum.

OIfrCt from IF (Hz)

-
Figure 5 IF Phase Noise Spectrum With Range Correkrtion
Eflec&

0
' 1

offgi from IF (Hz)

-
Figure 3 Range Correlation Filter Effects

Figures 6 and 7 contain plots of S,(f). the total spectrum at

IF, for the cases where the effects of range Correlation are ignored
(Figure 6) and considered (Figure 7). In generating the plots of
Figures 6 und 7 it was assumed that the natural clutter spectrum,
C(n, had a Gaussian shape with a 3 dB bandwidth of 5 Hz. Also, in
-140'
performing the convolution indicated in Equation (23) it was as- 100 IO' 102 i@ IW 101 10s 107
sumed that CY, was narrow relative to the phase noise spectrum. offset from IF (Hz)
At high frequencies thii assumption is valid. At low frequencies it
is not very good; however, at low frequencies the CY, contribution -
Figure 6 IF Cluaer Spectrum Without Range Correhtion
Egects
due to the carrier over shadows the low frequency portion of the
spectrum due to the convolution of CY, with the phase noise spec-
trum. In Figures 6 and 7 the power in S,(f) was normalized to
one.

215
 0- provided for the case of a pulsed Doppler radar. The results pre-
sented in this paper indicate that range conelation can have a signifi-
-20-
cant impact on the IF spectrum due to phase noise, and thus should
-40- be considered in radar analysis and design activities.

Q
0 -80.
20

1p' -100 0-

g -120
-20 -
-140
-9
-160 El -40-
B
-180 -
109 101 102 103 iw 105 106 107 60-
Offact from IF (HE)

-
Figure 7 IF Clutter Spectrum Wilh Ramge Correlatwn Effects -80-

As can be seen from Figures 6 and 7 the difference in the

spectra with and without range correlation is most significant at fre- -100l
Y ,I
io0 101 102 103 iw 105 10s 107
quencies close to the IF. For this example the difference is between
o f i a from IF (HE)
10 and 30 dB in the frequency offset range of lKHz to lOKHz
range, which, for X-band radars, would be typical Doppler fre- -
Figure 8 Range Correkrtion Filter Effects Using Approximate
quencies for low to medium range-rate targets. This means that if Equation
range correlation effects are ignored the clutter rejection assessments
could be low by between 10 and 30 dB for low to medium range-
rate targets. This, in turn, could have a significant impact on results REFERENCES
of detection and tracking analyses. From a design standpoint, it rll R. S. Raven. "Reauirementson Master Oscillatorsfor
could lead to an over specification of the phase noise characteristics Coherent kdar,"*IEEEProceedings, Vol. 54, NO. 2, pp
of the radar LO. For large offset frequencies,range correlation ef- 237-243, February 1966.
fects cause virtually no reduction in the phase noise and thus would [2] M. I. Skolnik (Editor), Radar Handbook, McGraw Hill,
not impact clutter rejection assessments for fast targets. New York, N.Y., 1970, Chapter 16.
'ne expression for HR(f) in Equations (26) and (27) is [3] W.P. Robins, Phase Noise in Signal Sources, Peter
rather complex. In an attempt to simplify this expression, and com- Pergrinus Ltd, London, UK, 1982.
[4] D. C. Schleher, M l l and Pulsed Doppler Radar, Artech
pare it 93 the standard sin' (.) expression derived from deterministic House, Norwood, MA, 1991.
analyses of range correlation, the standard sin' (.) expression was [SI D. K. Barton, Modem Radar System Analysis, Artech
extended to account for returns from ranges spaced a PRI apart. House, Norwood, MA, 1988.
The resulting expression is [6] D. K. Barton, "Ground Clutter Model," Raytheon Memo, NO.
7101-80-159, February 1980.
3 [7] I. S . Gradshteyn and I. M. Ryzhik. Table oflntegrals, Series
H i ( f)= 2$(+) sin2 21rf(& + kAR)/c (29) and Products, Academic Press, New York, N. Y., 1965.
% r = o R +k.AR

where
(30)
Figure 8 contains a plot of Hi(f) for the same conditions used to
generate Figure 3. Comparing the two figures shows that they
agree very well for low frequencies but not for high frequencies.
Thus one could use the simpler form of Equation (29) for low fre-
quencies and then let Hi(f)= 1 for high frequencies.
SUMMARY
This paper addressed the problem of characterizingthe ef-
fects of' range correlation on the phase noise spectrum at the IF. The
approach used was to define the problem in terms of stochastic pro-
cesses and to impose a reasonable set of assumptions on the defmi-
tion to produce a straight forward and easily understood solution.
The solution provided a definition of the IF spectrum that could be
partitioned according to the various contributorsto the spectrum: the
natural scatterer spectrum, the phase noise spectrum and a filter
function that accounts for range correlation. A specific example was
Dr. Budge received his BSEE and MSEE degrees in 1965
and 1968 from the University of Southwestem Louisiana and his
Ph.D. in1972 from Texas A t M University. He is Chief Scientist
of Dynetics, Inc. where he performs research in the areas of radar,
signal processing, communications and tracking. Dr Budge is a
member of IEEE, AUSA, Association of Old Crows, Eta Kappa
Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Xi.
Dr. Burt received a BS in Mathematics in 1964 from
Auburn University. She received a MA in Mathematics in 1970, a
BSEE in 1984 and the Ph.D. in 1987 from the University of
Alabama in Huntsville. She is a Senior Technical Specialist with the
Missile and Space Intelligence Center where she performs research
in the areas of missiles, radar and signal processing. Dr. Burt is
member of Mortar Board, Phi Kappa Phi, Tau Beta Pi, Eta Kappa
Nu, Pi Mu Eplison and Alpha Lambda Delta.
The aurhors' mailing adresses are
Mervin C. Budge, Jr. Mickie P. Burt
Dynetics, Inc. MSIC/MSC-4
1000 Explorer Blvd Redstone Arsenal, AL
Huntsville, Al 35806 3.5898

216