RADAR Components Flashcards
What is the purpose of the power supply?
To supply power for the RADAR
What is the purpose and use of the Timer?
To provide a stable timing source for the entire RADAR system.
Supplies a steady stream of very short low-power timing impulses to the RADAR system.
Used to control waveform generation and measure range to targets.
What is the purpose of the Modulator?
It triggers the transmitter on and off to release bursts of DC energy.
Controls the duration of those pulses.
What are the two components and types of the Transmitter?
Components - The Oscillator and the Amplifier.
Types - Coherent and Non-coherent.
What’s the purpose of the Transmitter?
Generates a high-power radio frequency for the duration of the input pulses from the Modulator.
It controls the frequency and amplitude (power) of the transmitted signal.
What’s the difference between Coherent and Non-coherent transmitters?
Non-coherent transmitters do not have an underlying sine wave. Each recurring pulse has a random starting phase.
Coherent transmitters have an underlying sine wave. All pulses are in phase with each other.
What is the purpose of an Oscillator?
It is an electronic circuit that produces a periodic, oscillating signal, often a sine wave or square wave.
Converts direct current (DC) to alternating current from a power supply to an alternating current (AC) signal.
What is the purpose of an Amplifier?
It increases (amplifies) the power of a signal.
Increases the strength of the RF (provided by the oscillator) before transmission.
What is the purpose of the Duplexer?
It protects the receiver from the high-power signals that the transmitter produces.
Because returned signals are much lower-powered compared to the transmitted signals, the receiver is very sensitive.
The duplexer alternates between the “transmission” mode, and the “receiving” mode, to prevent the receiver from being damaged by “leaking” from the transmitter signal.
This duplexer is required for “monostatic” RADARs.
What is the purpose of the Antenna?
It provides the RADAR hardware impedance match to free space and to focus the radio waves in a desired direction.
This provides the ability to measure angle to a target and gives transmitted wave antenna gain.
What are the components of the Receiver?
Target Detector
Low-Noise Amplifier
Signal Processor
Matched Filter
What is the purpose of the Receiver?
It converts RF energy into electrical current to be processed.
What is the purpose of a Low-Noise Amplifier?
When a signal bounces off a target and comes back to the receiver, it contains both the target return and “noise” from the signal environment.
The Low-Noise Amplifier increases the amplitude level of the target at the moment that the noise floor is at its lowest in order to get the best SNR possible.
Essentially it “amplifies” the target and reduces/eliminates noise for the receiver.
What is the purpose of the Matched Filter?
It maximizes the Signal to Noise ratio by filtering out returned energy that does not match with what was transmitted.
What is the purpose of the Signal Processor?
Processes the returned signal.
