Chapter 16 – Radar Basics

Publisher Summary This chapter has tried to show the basics of the Radar which helps to detect target range, direction, and motion. It is a Radio detection Ranging. It has been used since the second world war. The frequency of the radio waves depends on the radar application. Radar systems are often designated by the wavelength or frequency band in which they operate. Higher frequency systems usually are lower power due to electronic circuit limitations, and they experience greater atmospheric attenuation. Most airborne radars operate between the L and Ka bands, also known as the microwave region. Many short-range targeting radars, such as on a tank or helicopter, operate in the millimeter band. The shape and contours of the aircraft also greatly influence the radar cross-section. In radar systems, sequences known as Barker sequences are sometimes used. Most radars have thousands of range bins. They may scan wide sweeps of azimuth and elevation. Filtering or convolving the receive signals by using matched filters is a computationally intense process. This could be done using FIR filters. However, in order to reduce the amount of computations, another method is often used.