Radar For Military Applications - Coursework Example

Applications for Microwave- Radar in the military Name Date Introduction Radar is a short for of radio detection and ranging, it is a system that is used to detect distance objects using radio waves, it determine the distance, speed, and direction of the object being aimed at. It is normally used to detect objects such as aircraft, ships, missiles, and vehicles. The technology was first developed in 1895 by a German physicist called Heinrich Hertz; he demonstrated in his experiments that radio waves can be reflected from objects. Alexander Popov who was a Russian physicist improved on Heinrich work by developing a system that was used to detect lightening strikes (Hitzeroth, 1990). This development was finally completed by Christian Hulsmeyer who managed to develop the first system that can detect distant metallic objects using radio waves. Following intensifying wars around that time, military was desperate to find a system that can detect missiles and aircraft during the war. Physicist and engineers from fighting nations during that time such as Germany, U.S, U.K, Soviet Union, France, and Japan tried secretly and independently to develop modern radar detector (Hitzeroth, 1990). Modern radar systems were developed in 1938 and there was mass development of the system especially by the Soviet Union military. How radar system works (Hitzeroth, 1990) Radar system is made up of a set of components, it has a component that generates radio waves, once generated it is then transmitted through space by a certain component, on the other side there is a receiver and a processor to translate information so that it can be understood by an operator. The radio waves to be used by the system are produced by a component called magnetron. The radio waves produced are the same as light waves, they travel at lightning speed but the difference is that they have longer wavelengths and higher frequencies (Abbatangelo & Farina, 2005). The waves produced by magnetron are microwaves and are similar to the waves produced by microwave oven but the difference is that the ones produced by magnetron goes for long miles and are powerful unlike the ones for oven that goes for few inches. When the microwaves are generated, a transmission antenna throws them into the space. The transmission antenna is designed in a curve way so as to focus the waves into a precise and narrow beam. Some antennas are designed in such a way that they can rotate so that they can detect movement of objects over a bigger area. The generated radio waves just move until they hit at an object. Some of these waves are absorbed by the object while others are reflected back towards the antenna. The speed of the radio waves is important especially for military purposes, because for example if there is a missile that has been launched and it is moving at 3,000 km/h, the radar waves should be much faster than the missile so that it can reach their return back to the transmitting antenna and alert on the danger before the missile hits the target (Abbatangelo & Farina, 2005). The antenna works as a transmitter as well as a receiver. It transmits the signals and listens first for any reflected waves before transmitting again. If there is any reflected wave picked by the antenna, it is then directed into an electronic processing component that processes the signal and displays them in a meaningful form that can be seen and understood by the operator, the processed information is displayed in a screen. If the targeted object is moving towards or away from the radar detector, there is a slight equivalent change in the frequency of the waves; this slight change in frequency is caused by what we call Doppler Effect (Abbatangelo & Farina, 2005). The processor is going to filter out unnecessary reflections such as those from the ground and buildings and it will show only useful information on the screen. In the screen, the operator is able to see approaching ships, aircrafts, or missiles, the direction they are heading at, and the speed they are travelling at. The applications of microwave radar technology in the military outnumber all other radar application in science. This is because of their ability to pinpoint the enemy movement and presence in the night and during the day irrespective of the weather conditions. Military have managed to develop ground penetrating radars. These are used in war zones to detect landmines that are buried shallowly on the ground. Buried landmines have remained dangerous weapons for over a long period of time, what makes it dangerous is that they cannot be seen by naked eyes and if a military vehicle or a soldier steps on it kills and destroy vehicles (Abbatangelo & Farina, 2005). In many countries that have had prolong wars such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, many landmines are left in the ground for over a long period of time. Due to the danger post by this weapons to the civilian population after war, ground penetrating radar is used by the military to find and destroy it since radar signals cannot be completely absorbed or reflected at the boundary between air and ground, but it has the power to penetrate the ground so long as the moisture content of the soil is low. Spy planes fixed with powerful radar have been developed by U.S military so that they are used in Iraq and Afghanistan to detect landmines also (Sullivan, 2000). Troops on feet and vehicles have been the ones carrying out the work of detecting these landmines, the introduction of aircraft carrying detectors boost the work of the soldiers in the field. The detectors mounted on aircraft locate wires attached to bombs that allow them to be defused. The military have trained many radar detectors on Afghanistan Pakistan border, this provide the military with the bomb makers escape and supply routes. The supply of landmines bombs to Afghan jihadist normally comes from Pakistan, but because of radar, they have managed to trace and destroy the sources inside Pakistan. The airborne radars monitor the people who are in the desert and mountains, if the radars detect and find that they are carrying landmines, they respond by striking. The radar systems used are called Desert Owl and Copperhead. The desert owl was developed first while the Copperhead was developed later. Both radars use unique radar to detect copper wires, the technology is complemented by advanced image-processing algorithms. They are normally mounted on unmanned drones. In urban places and during military operations, the military use it to spot suicide bombers. The radar system used has two cameras that detect and track people walking near the system within the range of up to 100 meters. The system emits low-level radar beams towards the people moving around, the returning signals are analyzed using a series of algorithms. The analysis will show bombs or weapons hidden in a person clothes. The system does this by comparing the returning radio wave to a large library of normal responses. The responses used are modeled from people of different shapes and sizes, when the signal is compared with other anomalous responses and found to be up normal, the system will indicate the man is dangerous by showing a red light or producing a sound. When it comes to issues of air surveillance, monitoring of airspace is important because it enable the military detect hostile aircraft and missiles and directing defensive measures against it. The first application was applied by the British military during the Second World War. For proper use, they are placed on elevated areas because they cannot see through corners (Sullivan, 2000). To cover aircrafts such as ground-hugging aircraft, the system should be placed on airborne platform like AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System). The new developed radars are capable of looking around the corners; they are called Over The Horizon (OTH) radars exploit certain features of earth’s atmosphere and they are capable of detecting low flying objects that are over a thousand of kilometers away (Sullivan, 2000). The military also use it for target tracking. The radar meant for tracking keeps a pair of virtual crosshairs centered on the intended target. It is built on Conical Scan antenna that produces exact angle measures. The readings from the processing component are taken as input information to assist in directing gun fire or controlled missile on the target (Tait & Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009). These radars are built using monopulse phased array antenna. This is achieved by splitting antenna array into 4 sub-arrays or illuminating the array with monopulse feed. When the antenna beam position and shape is changed, the system will be able to track several targets at once, in between it will be doing target searching and transmitting commands to a launched missile or illuminating a target so that the fire power or missile will get it precisely. Radar guided missiles can follow the target both day and night. An example of this missile is patriot missile system that was used by U.S during Gulf War, when they were fighting with Iraq (Tait & Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009). The missile is guided by the radar so as to follow an enemy target until it hits it. During that war, patriot missile managed to bring down several SCUD missiles that were launched by Iraq towards Israel. Shell tracking radar is a kind of a military system that is capable of detecting all types of airborne objects, this system includes artillery shells. It assists in improving aircraft firepower and it measures the flight trajectory of enemy projectiles, so as to calculate and find the point of origin of hostile projection. Ballistic missiles defense systems uses radar to detect incoming missiles before reaching the target. This requires large antennas because of its high angular resolution. The latest project that is being carried out by the military is GBR (Ground Based Radar); this project is part of U.S Nuclear Missile Defense system (Tait & Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009). Radar systems are used in GPS (global positioning system) technology. The GPS receivers’ uses radio waves signals from the satellites in the atmosphere to trace every space on the earth (Tait & Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009). It always locate targets precisely or few meters away from the wanted target. Originally GPS was meant only to be used for military purpose but currently it is being used by the civilians for various things such as car tracking. Factors that limit the use of radar One factor is noise. Signal noise generated by electronic equipments can vary the radar signal. When the distance is long, reflected signal will become weak and noise will introduce the limitation. Objects that are too far produce weak signals that cannot exceed noise floor and cannot be detected by the antenna (Tait & Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009). Another factor is interference. For the radar signals to focus on the target, it must first overcome unwanted signals. Unwanted signals come from internal and external sources. Signal-to-noise ratio defines the ability for the system to overcome unwanted signals. Cutter signals also affect the quality of radar signals. Cutter signals are radio signals reflected from the objects that are not the target of the radar system. These targets include ground, sea, sand storms, animals, buildings and many others (Tait & Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2009). To neutralize cutter signals, the best technique to be used is pulse-Doppler radar. The Doppler is capable of separating clutter from aircraft by use of frequency spectrum that means individual signals can be separated from several reflectors located in the same place by use of velocity difference. Jamming signal is one of the worst interference for radar system. A jamming signal is a radio frequency signal that comes from a source transmitting in a frequency similar to that of radar. This signal will mask the radar target and the missile might hit the wrong target. Sometimes the signal might be send intentional to destroy the radar system or sometimes it is unintentional because may be there is a force near that is operating an equipment that is transmitting at the same frequency as that of your radar. The problem with jamming is that jam signal travels in one way only while radar signals travels two ways, hence its power will be reduced significant by the time it is going back to the receiver. This problem cannot be gotten rid of but it can only be reduced by narrowing the mainlobe solid angle. References HITZEROTH, D. (1990). Radar: the silent detector. San Diego, CA, Lucent Books ABBATANGELO, G., & FARINA, A. (2005). Radar Imaging and its Operational Use in the Military Field. IEEE AEROSPACE AND ELECTRONIC SYSTEMS MAGAZINE. 20, 35-36. BROWN, L. (1999). A radar history of World War II: technical and military imperatives. Bristol, Institute of Physics Pub. SULLIVAN, R. J. (2000). Microwave radar: imaging and advanced concepts. Boston, Artech House Tait, P., & Institution of Engineering and Technology. (2009). Introduction to radar target recognition. London: Institution of Engineering and Technology Read More

The antenna works as a transmitter as well as a receiver. It transmits the signals and listens first for any reflected waves before transmitting again. If there is any reflected wave picked by the antenna, it is then directed into an electronic processing component that processes the signal and displays them in a meaningful form that can be seen and understood by the operator, the processed information is displayed in a screen. If the targeted object is moving towards or away from the radar detector, there is a slight equivalent change in the frequency of the waves; this slight change in frequency is caused by what we call Doppler Effect (Abbatangelo & Farina, 2005).

The processor is going to filter out unnecessary reflections such as those from the ground and buildings and it will show only useful information on the screen. In the screen, the operator is able to see approaching ships, aircrafts, or missiles, the direction they are heading at, and the speed they are travelling at. The applications of microwave radar technology in the military outnumber all other radar application in science. This is because of their ability to pinpoint the enemy movement and presence in the night and during the day irrespective of the weather conditions.

Military have managed to develop ground penetrating radars. These are used in war zones to detect landmines that are buried shallowly on the ground. Buried landmines have remained dangerous weapons for over a long period of time, what makes it dangerous is that they cannot be seen by naked eyes and if a military vehicle or a soldier steps on it kills and destroy vehicles (Abbatangelo & Farina, 2005). In many countries that have had prolong wars such as Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, many landmines are left in the ground for over a long period of time.

Due to the danger post by this weapons to the civilian population after war, ground penetrating radar is used by the military to find and destroy it since radar signals cannot be completely absorbed or reflected at the boundary between air and ground, but it has the power to penetrate the ground so long as the moisture content of the soil is low. Spy planes fixed with powerful radar have been developed by U.S military so that they are used in Iraq and Afghanistan to detect landmines also (Sullivan, 2000).

Troops on feet and vehicles have been the ones carrying out the work of detecting these landmines, the introduction of aircraft carrying detectors boost the work of the soldiers in the field. The detectors mounted on aircraft locate wires attached to bombs that allow them to be defused. The military have trained many radar detectors on Afghanistan Pakistan border, this provide the military with the bomb makers escape and supply routes. The supply of landmines bombs to Afghan jihadist normally comes from Pakistan, but because of radar, they have managed to trace and destroy the sources inside Pakistan.

The airborne radars monitor the people who are in the desert and mountains, if the radars detect and find that they are carrying landmines, they respond by striking. The radar systems used are called Desert Owl and Copperhead. The desert owl was developed first while the Copperhead was developed later. Both radars use unique radar to detect copper wires, the technology is complemented by advanced image-processing algorithms. They are normally mounted on unmanned drones. In urban places and during military operations, the military use it to spot suicide bombers.

The radar system used has two cameras that detect and track people walking near the system within the range of up to 100 meters. The system emits low-level radar beams towards the people moving around, the returning signals are analyzed using a series of algorithms. The analysis will show bombs or weapons hidden in a person clothes. The system does this by comparing the returning radio wave to a large library of normal responses. The responses used are modeled from people of different shapes and sizes, when the signal is compared with other anomalous responses and found to be up normal, the system will indicate the man is dangerous by showing a red light or producing a sound.

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