Giitand Pulse Doppler Radar een ee a Ee 7.13. CONICAL SCAN AND SEQUENTIAL LOGIC ee “The monopulse tracker described in the previous section utilized multiple fixed beams to obtain the angle measurement. It is also possible to time share a single antenna beam to obtain the angle measurement in a sequential manner, time sharing a single antenna beam is simpler and use less equipment than simultaneous beams, but it is not as accurate. sequential lobing 3 2 & Position 2 Position 1 Position 2 (a) Ble ppb | Position 1 Position 2 plitude ——~ Time (c) Fig. 2.39. Lobe switching antenna patterns and the error signal (a) Polar representation of the switched antenna pattern (b) rectangular representation (c) error signal * The first U.S. Army angle tracking air defense radar in the 1930’s (SCR-268) switched a single beam between two squinted angular positionsRadar and Navigationat ax dy we ) itchii to obtain an angle measurement. This is called lobe switching, Sequentiy switching (or) sequential lobing. the Fig.2.39 (a) is a polar representation of the antenna beam in the two Witchy positions. The same in rectangular coordinates is in Fig.2.39 (b). The error Signa obtained from a target not located on the switching axis is shown in Fig,2,39 (c), Angular displacement ‘ The difference in amplitude between the voltages obtained in the two switched positions is a measure of the angular displacement of the tange, from the switching axis. when the echo signals in the two beam POSitions are equal the target is an axis and its direction is that of the switching axis, Conical scan radar ** The beam might be switched right, up, left, down, and so forth. After living with this type of scanning for a while, it must have become obvious that the four horns and RF switches could be replaced by a single feed that radiated a single beam squinted off axis. The sequential feed could then be continuously rotated to obtain angle measurement in two coordinates. This is a conical scan radar. Conical Scan Target axis Beam rotation Fig. 2.40. Conical Scan TrackingThe angle between the axis of rotation and the axis of the antenna beam is . get located a position A. the squint angle. Consider a tar conical Se” frequency cho signal will be modulated at a frequency equal to alled the conical scan frequency. The amplitude of en the target direction and ‘The amplitude of the ¢ ncy it is ci bea rotation frequel is on the angular distance betwe the modulation depend the rotation axis. lock diagram A block diagram of the angle tra shown in the Fig.2.41 The antenna is mount positioned in both azimuth and elevation by separate motors. cking portion of a conical tracking radar is ted so that it can be mechanically Nutating feed ed can be a rear — feed design for mechanical The parabolic antenna fe intain the plane of polarization as it when the feed is designed to mai s called a nutating feed. h causes the plane of polarization to rotate. It convenience, rotates about the axis, it i The nutating feed is one whic is preferred over the rotating feed since a rotating polarization can cause the amplitude of the target echo signal to change with time even for a stationary target on axis. A change in amplitude caused by echo signals tracking accuracy. The nutating feed is usually more com| Totating feed. If the antenna is small enough, it might be easier to mechanically Toate the tilted reflector rather than the feed, thus avoiding the problems of either Totary joi . tary joint or a flexible RF joint for the nutating feed. an result in degraded angle plicated, however than theRadar and Navigon, ) To rotatry joint on antenna — Receiver Second |_| Range with detector é |_ AGC _4 sin 2m fst Duplexer cos 27 fst ——— Elevation servo amplifier aE Azimuth ‘Azimuth angle sevo FJ error amplifier detector Fig. 2.41. Block diagram of conical scan tracking radar Receiver “> The receiver is a super heterodyne except for features related to the conical scan tracking. The error signal is extracted in the video after the second| detector, Range gate “Range gating eliminates noise and excludes all targets other than the desired target. The error signal eliminates noise and excludes all targets other that the desired target. The error signal from the range gate is compared wit both the elevation and azimuth reference signals in the angle error detects which are phase sensitive detectors, oewil and Pulse Doppler Radar 2.85 phase detector The phase sensitive detector is a nonlinear device in which the input signal jg mixed with a reference signal. The magnitude of the d-c output from the angle error detector is proportional to the angle error, and its sign indicates the direction of the error. The angle error outputs are amplified and used to drive the antenna elevation and azimuth servo motors. =r tly (a) Pulse train with conical scan modulation lL pt (b) Same pulse train after siretching by a sample and hold circuit Fig. 2.42. Automatic Gain Control * As with monopulse radar, AGC is employed in the conical scan radar. It has the purpose of maintaining constant angle error sensitivity inspite of amplitude fluctuations or change of the echo signal due to changes in range Constant angle error sensitivity is required to provide stable tracking. AGC is also important for avoiding saturation by large signals which could Cause the loss of the scanning modulation and the accompanying error(2.86; Radar and Navigation a The gain of the AGC loop at the conical scan frequency should be low, that the error signal will not be suppressed by the AGC action. Optimum squint angle The greater the squint angle in the conical — scan tracker the greater will ty slope of the error signal around boresight and the more accurate will be the angle measurement. The maximum slop occurs at a squint angle equal to 0.41 of the half power beamwidth.