TYPES OF RADAR

Introduction

1. The military use radars for a variety of different functions for example Early
Warning or Fire Control. Each function requires different radar parameters and
modes of operation. This lesson looks at the general types of radar by function, and
how they can be identified according to their unique parameters.

Over-The-Horizon Radars (OTH-R)

2. OTH-Rs provide constant detection of airborne and naval targets beyond the
normal radar line-of-sight. By using low frequencies typically 3 to 30 MHz, OTH-Rs
employ sky-wave propagation that gives minimal atmospheric attenuation. This
combination provides a minimum range of around 540 nm and maximum ranges of
around 2100 nm. FMCW transmissions are used, giving range accuracy of around 6 to
12nm, but no height information can be determined. OTH-Rs use a bistatic mode of
operation, with a physically separated transmitter and receiver.

Frequency Band 15-30 MHZ - A-BAND

Transmission Type FMCW
Antenna size Extremely large (1200 m long)

Table 1: Typical OTH-R Parameters

Early Warning Radars

3. Early warning radars may be ground-based, Airborne (Airborne Early Warning)

or ship borne. These radars use surface wave propagation, which provide maximum
ranges of 270 to 320 nm. The first early warning radars used 100 MHz to 500 MHz
frequencies, with yagi arrays or mesh antennas to reduce instability in high winds.
Later early warning radars were developed using 1 GHz to 2 Hz frequencies. The
radar beam widths are narrow in the horizontal plane and wide in the vertical plan.
High power levels are required, which means large Pulse Widths (PW) and low
Pulse Repetition Frequencies (PRF). Typically, slow circular scan patterns are used.
If the early warning radar has no height-finding capability, a dedicated height finding
radar is used. These operate in the same manner as the Early Warning radar but use
fan-beams in which the elevation beam width is narrow and the fan beam is swept over
a vertical sector in a nodding fashion.

Frequency Band 100 MHz - 500 MHz (A & B

band)
500 MhZ - 2 GhZ (C & D Band
Transmission Type Pulse
Antenna size Large
PRF Low (typically 200 to 350 Hz)
Pulse width Wide (5 to 30 µ s)
Power Very high (100 kW to 10 MW)
Scan rate & pattern Typically slow, circular

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 Table 2: Typical Early Warning Radar Parameters
Secondary Radars

4. The majority of radars are primary radar. These locate targets by detecting
reflected EM energy and no co-operation is required from the target. Secondary
radars operate by transmitting a coded message to targets (interrogation), which
reply using a separate transmitter (a transponder), on a different frequency.
Secondary surveillance radars (SSRs) are used by civilian air traffic control systems
to regulate and identify aircraft. SSR is based on a World War II system known as
identification friend or foe (IFF). IFF is the primary military method of identifying
friendly aircraft from hostile aircraft and is compatible with current SSR. IFF and SSR
can provide warning of equipment failure, emergency or other in flight situations (Hi
jack)

5. The interrogation signal consists of pairs of pulses, which are separated by a

time equivalent to the required mode of response. The codes can be one of three
types and are differentiated by the time difference between the pulses in the
interrogation transmission. The fundamental IFF identification modes are 1, 2, 3 and
SSR uses Modes A and C. The aircraft response consists of a train of pulses
representing the code selected either by the aircrew or provided by equipment in the
aircraft. IFF and SSRs use D-band frequencies, 1030 MHz to interrogate and 1090
MHz to respond. Ranges of several hundred miles are possible. Dipole antennas
are used for the IFF interrogator and omni-directional blade antennas for the IFF
transponder.

Frequency Band 1GHZ (D Band)

Transmission Type Pulse
Antenna size Interrogator Large - Rotating
Antenna size Aircraft Small - Omni Directional
Power Medium (50 - 100 watts)

Table 3: SSR/IFF parameters

Target Acquisition Radars (TARs)

6. TARs are similar to early warning radars, but are normally associated with a
weapon system, such as surface-to-air missile (SAM) system or anti-aircraft artillery
(AAA). The detection range for a TAR is dependent upon the capability of the weapon
system and can range from 10 nm to 120 nm. TAR frequencies are from 500 Mhz to
10 Ghz and depending on the frequency the antenna will be large mesh antennas or
smaller parabolic dishes. Shorter wavelengths and high PRFs are used with faster
scan rates to produce high data rates. Although the majority of TARs use pulse
transmissions, CW is used by some systems in order to reduce clutter from terrain and
detect targets at low-level.

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 Frequency Bands 500Mhz -10Ghz (C to I-band)
Transmission Type Mainly pulse, exceptionally CW
Antenna size Medium (1 to 3.5 m)
PRF Medium (typically 800 to 3000 Hz)
PW Medium (0.2 to 1 µ s)
Power Medium (2 to 900 kW)
Scan rates & pattern Medium 40 to 60 RPM, circular or sector

Table 4: Typical TAR Parameters

Target Tracking Radars (TTRs)

7. TTRs provide continuously updated information for weapons systems.

Depending on the particular weapon system, the TTR may have to provide range,
azimuth, elevation and velocity data. The differences between TARs and TTRs are in
the resolution and data rate. High frequencies 4 GHz to 40 GHz, narrow PWs and
narrow beam widths are used to achieve high resolution. The power is lower than TARs
and the physical dimensions of the antennas are smaller. High data rates are achieved
through the use of very high PRFs and faster and more complicated scan patterns.
The majority of modern TTRs use pulse Doppler (PD) waveforms, although some older
systems use pulse. A few TTRs use CW.

Frequency Bands 4Ghz to 40 Ghz (G/H, I, J and K-band

Transmission Type PD, pulse, exceptionally CW

Antenna size Small (0.6 to 1.5 m)
PRF High (typically 1500 to 9000 Hz)
PW Narrow (0.1 to 1 µ s)
Power Medium to low ( 1 to 50 kW)
Scan rate Fast/continuous

Table 5: Typical TTR Parameters

Fire Control Radars (FCRs)

10. FCRs represent the final stage of an engagement with a radar-guided weapon
system. They can be used to describe AAA and also SAM missile guidance radars,
which issue commands to missiles in-flight. In some radar systems, the TTR and
missile guidance radar may be combined, sharing the same parameters of frequency
and PRF. However, the PW of a missile guidance signal from an FCR is wider than
that of a TTR. FCRs can use pulse, PD or CW transmissions.

Frequency Bands 8 Ghz -40Ghz (I, J and K bands)

Transmission Type PD, pulse, or CW

Antenna size, PRF, Power Same as TTR
PW Narrow to medium (0.2 to 0.8µ s)

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 Table 6: Typical FCR (Missile Guidance) Parameters
Air Intercept (AI) Radars

11. AI radar is used by fighter aircraft to search, track and target airborne targets.
Due to the lack of space, a single multi-function radar is used, operating on frequencies
between 8Ghz and 20Ghz as a compromise between the need for long-range and the
need for high resolution. This results in a small antenna size. Another important
requirement is the need to reject unwanted radar echoes caused by the ground. This
is achieved by using a PD transmission and filtering radar echoes by velocity. AI
radars that can achieve this are termed “look-down-shoot-down” radars.

12. To increase the probability of detecting targets at long range, AI radars use very
high PRFs. Unfortunately, high PRFs lead to incorrect range indications, so a mix
between low, medium and high PRFs are used. Typically a raster scan is used for
search, with computer processing allowing track-while-scan. Some AI radars use
command guidance signals to direct air-to-air missiles, with the missiles using their own
radars in the final stages of an engagement. Some AI radars use CW illumination of
targets, allowing air-to-air missiles to home onto the reflections.

Frequency Bands 8Ghz - 20Ghz (I - J-band)

Transmission Type Mainly PD, CW for missile guidance
Antenna size Small (less than a metre)
PRF High (typically 10 to 30 kHz)
PW Medium (0.1 to 1 µ s)
Power Medium to low
Scan rate Medium to fast

Table 7: Typical AI Radar Parameters

Ground Mapping Radars (GMRs)

13. GMRs are used for navigation and weapon aiming. They are required to detect
ground features with minimal distortion and maximum resolution. High frequencies are
used, low to medium PRFs, narrow PWs, narrow beamwidths and medium to fast scan
rates. Pulse or PD transmissions can be used and there are a variety of complex radar
processing techniques that can be used to enhance the overall resolution of the
system. These include pulse compression, Doppler beam sharpening and synthetic
aperture radar (SAR).

Frequency Bands 8Ghz to 20Ghz (I - J-band)

Transmission Type Pulse and PD

Antenna size Small (less than a metre)
PRF Medium to low
PW Narrow to Medium
Power Medium to low
Scan rate Medium to fast

Table 9: Typical Air-to-Ground Mapping Radar Parameters

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Technology

14. Advances in technology have allowed considerable improvements in radar

capability. Improvements in radar operation, greater ranges, higher resolution and
increased data rates have all been achieved through the incorporation of new
technology. The minitiarisation of the "Black Boxes" has allowed improved systems to
be installed on smaller platforms. Last but by no means least is the adoption of planar
and phased array technology. The latter removes the need to rotate aerials to provide
bearing information. The details of this technology will be explored in later lessons. The
point to note is however that the technology continues to advance but the FUNCTIONS
to be performed remain the same.

Summary

15. Radar falls into one of two categories Primary or Secondary, most are Primary
radar and within that general category they perform a number of different functions.
This lesson has reviewed the different types of radar, described their functions and
identified their generic parameters. As a general rule however long range detection
requires low frequencies, large PWs, low PRFs and high power transmissions whilst
short-range target tracking requires high frequencies, high PRFs, narrow PWs and
narrow beamwidths to provide high resolution. PD radar offers accurate range, velocity
and bearing information, and therefore is more commonly used for tracking, AI or fire
control. CW signals are associated with target illumination and should therefore be
considered as a high threat.

16. The introduction of modern technology and the evolution of single function
radar into multi-function capability enable commanders to mix search and tracking
tasks on a single platform. Multi-beam architecture allows for detection and tracking
multifunction capability whilst active arrays provide increased sensitivity and
flexibility. This increased technical capability simply reduces the numbers of radar
required to perform the tasks required in the battlefield. The functions identified in
this lesson still need to be undertaken.