Comparison of Efficient Design Techniques for Surveillance Radars

The manner in which any radar is configured to carry out its specific task is determined by the specific measurements it has to make, the physical environment in which it must function and the interferers it is expected to encounter. This paper puts forward the comparison between the various design techniques of one such significant radar group i.e. search radars or surveillance radars. The work explained eases the efforts of a radar designer by putting forward the best-suited technique for different specifications. We present the techniques for selection of beam types, time budgeting and power budgeting for the radar to be designed in accordance with the requirements cited by the user. Two approaches have been mainly considered to verify the feasibility of the design to meet the requirements. First approach is the design with pencil beam in which the advantages and disadvantages of using pencil beams for a radar design have been highlighted. In the second approach, multibeams in azimuth and elevation have been considered for design. The designs with multi beams have been considered with the variation of parameters such as elevation beam width, search frame time, rotational speed (RPM),beam widening with elevation, grouping of beams per rotation and with and without beam steering in azimuth. The paper puts forward all the comparative results of both the approaches with variation in different design parameters with respect to time on target, peak power requirement, power aperture product, accuracy, Doppler resolution, elevation coverage, design complexity, interception issues and electronic counter counter measure (ECCM) capability.