TRACKING RADAR 167
difficult to illuminate a single reflector with more than one feed and produce
independent antenna patterns which illuminate the same volume in space.
Although tracking radars based upon the phase-comparison tnonopulse principle have
been built and operated, this technique has not been as widely used as some of the other
angle-tracking methods. The sum signal has higher sidelobes because the separation
between the phase centers of the separate antennas is large. (These high sidelobes are the
result of grminq lobe*, similar to those produced in phased arrays.) The problem of high
sidelobes can be reduced by overlapping the antenna apertures. With reflector antennas,
this results in a loss uf angle sensitivity and antenna gain.
TARGET-REFLECTION CHARACTERISTICS AND ANGULAR
33
ACCURACY 1 0 * 1 "
The angular accuracy of tracking radar will be influenced by such factors as the mechanical
5 properties of the radar antenna and pedestal, the method by which the angular position of
the antenna is mcasjjred, the quality of the_serxo_J4<sl£m, the stability of the electronic circuits,
the riolse level oTthe receiver, the antenna bcamwidlh, atmospheric fluctuations, and the
reflection characteristics of the target. These factors can degrade the tracking accuracy by
causing the antenna beam to fluctuate in a random manner about the true target path.
These noiselike fluctuations are sometimes called trucking noise, or jitter.
A simple radar target such as a smooth sphere wTTTnot cause degradation of the
angular-tracking accuracy. The radar cross section of a sphere is independent of the aspect
at which it is viewed: consequently, its echo will not fluctuate with time. The same is true, in
general, of a radar beacon if its antenna pattern is omnidirectional. However, most radar
targets are of a more complex nature than the sphere. The amplitude of the echo signal from
a complex target may vary over wide limits as the aspect changes with respect to the radar.
In addition, the effective center of radar reflection may also change. Both of these
effects—amplitude fluctuations and wandering of the radar center of reflection—as well as
the limitation imposed by receiver noise can limit the tracking accuracy. These effects are
discussed below.
Amplitude fluctuations. A complex target such as an aircraft or a ship may be considered as a
number of independent scattering elements. The echo signal can be represented as the
vector addition of the contributions from the individual scatterers. If the target aspect
changes with respect to the radar—as might occur because of motion of the target, or
turbulence in the case of aircraft targets—the relative phase and amplitude relationships
of the contributions from the individual scatterers also change. Consequently, the vector
sum, and therefore the amplitude, change with changing target aspect.
Amplitude fluctuations of the echo signal are important in the design of the
lobe-switching radar and the conical-scan radar but are of little consequence to the
monopulse tracker. Both the conical-scan tracker and the lobe-switching tracker require a
finite time to obtain a measurement of the angle error. This time corresponds in the
conical-scan tracker to at least one revolution of tlie antenna beam. With lobe switching,
the minimum time is that necessary to obtain echoes at the four successive angular positions.
In either case four pulse-repetition periods are required to make a measurement; in
practice, many more than four are often used. If the target cross section were to vary during
this observation time, the change might be erroneously interpreted as an angular-error
signal. The.monopujse radar, on the other hand, determines
llie_anftularxr.cor-oji_tbfi_faa5iis_.pr a single pulse. Its accuracy will therefore not be
affected by changes in amplitude with time.
166 INTRODUCTION TO RADAR SYSTEMS
target makes an angle 0 to the perpendicular bisector of the line joining the two antennas.
The distance from antenna 1 to the target is
R, ■> R + sin 0
and the distance from antenna 2 to the target is j*-'
= R-d-
The phase difference between the echo signals in Ihe iwo antennas is approximately
(5.1)
— d sin 0
For small angles where sin 0 % 0. the phase difference is a linear function of the angular
error and may be used to position the antenna via a servo-control loop.
In the early versions of the phase-comparison monopulse radar, the angular error was
determined by measuring the phase difference between the outputs of receivers connected to
each antenna. The output from one of the antennas was used for transmission and for
providing Ihe range information. With such an arrangement it was difficult to obtain the
desired aperture illuminations and to maintain a stable borcsight. A more satisfactory
method of operation is to form the sum and difference patterns in the RF and to process the
signals as in a conventional amplitude-comparison monopulse radar.
In one embodiment of rhe phase-comparison principle as applied lo missile guidance Ihe
phase difference between the signals in two fixed antennas is measured wilh a
scrvo-controllcd phase shifter located in one of the arms.27 The servo loop adjusts the phase
shifter until the difference in phase between the two channels is a null. The amount of phase
shift which has to be introduced to make a null signal is a measure of the angular error.
The phase- and amplitude-comparison principles can be combined in a single radar to
produce two-dimensional angle tracking with only two, rather than four, antenna
beams."
The angle information in one plane (the azimuth) is obtained by two separate antennas
placed
side by side as in a phase-comparison monopulse. One of the beams is tilled slightly upward,
while the other is tilted slightly downward, to achieve the squint needed for amplitude -
comparison monopulse in elevation. Therefore the horizontal projection of the antenna
pat
terns is that of a phase-comparison system, while the vertical projection is that of an
amplitude-comparison system. ^
Both the amplitude-comparison-monopulsc and the phase-comparison-monoputse
trackers employ two antenna beams (for one coordinate tracking). The measurements
made by the two systems arc not Ihe same; consequently, the characteristics of ihe antenna
beams will also be different. In the amplitude-comparison monopulse the (wo beams arc
offset, that is, point in slightly different directions. This type of pattern may be generated
by using one reflector dish with two feed horns side by side (four feed horns for two
coordinate data). Since the feeds may he placed side by side, they could be as close as one-half
wavelength. With such close spacing the phase difference between the signals received in the
two feeds is negligibly small. Any difference in the amplitudes between the two antenna
outputs in the amplitude-comparison system is a result of differences in amplitude and
noi phase. The phase-comparison monopulse, on the other hand, measures phase
differences only and is not concerned with amplitude difference. Therefore the antenna
beams are not offset, but are directed to illuminate a common volume in space. Separate
antennas
are
needed
since it is