TABLE OF CONTENTS William H. Long
David H. Mooney
William A. Skillman
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
For the purpose of this chapter, the term pulse doppler (PD) will be used for radars to which the following apply:
They utilize coherent transmission and reception; that is, each transmitted pulse and the receiver local oscillator are synchronized to a free-running, highly stable oscillator.
They use a sufficiently high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) to be ambiguous in range.
They employ coherent processing to reject main-beam clutter, enhance target detection, and aid in target discrimination or classification.
PD is applied principally to radar systems requiring the detection of moving targets in a severe clutter environment. Table 17.1 lists typical applications l 10 and requirements. This chapter will deal principally with airborne applications, although the basic principles can also be applied to the ground-based case.
| Radar application | Requirements |
|---|---|
| Airborne or spaceborne surveillance Airborne interceptor or fire control | Long detection range; accurate range data Medium detection range; accurate range, velocity data |
| Ground-based surveillance | Medium detection range; accurate range data |
| Battlefield surveillance (slow-moving target detection) | Medium detection range; accurate range, velocity data |
| Missile seeker | May not need true range information |
| Ground-based weapon control | Short range; accurate range, velocity data |
| Meteorological | High velocity and range data resolution |
| Missile warning | Short detection range; very low false-alarm rate |
Pulse doppler radars are generally divided into two broad PRF categories: medium and high PRF.11 In a medium-PRF radar 12 14
