Solid State Navigation and Situation Awareness Radar

Radar2008
1904

1900

1948- present1950

2000

Origins of Commercial Marine Radar
Kelvin Hughes New Marine Radar 1948
Type 1• First UK Type Approved MarineRadar– 11th August 1948
• Specification– Upmast Transmitter/Receiver– Antenna Rotation: 30RPM– Peak Power:- 30kW
– RF Frequency:- 9.434GHz 9.524GHz– PRF:- 1kHz
– Pulse Width: 0.2μs– Azimuth Beamwidth:- 1.5°
– Elevation Beamwidth:- 27°

Sensor Improvements

Magnetron - Short Pulse Spectrum
0-10-20

Power (dBc/Hz)-30-40-50-60-70-80-90-100246810Frequency (GHz)

121416

Advances in Sensor Technology

Low Noise Front Ends
FET Modulators
Improved Magnetron Life
Current Sensors at Peak ofPerformance
However………

Little improvement inperformance in clutter
Customers & Regulators
demand detection of smaller
targetsCustomers want more reliablesystems
Pressure from ITU to restrict
radar bandwidth and out ofband emissions

SharpEye Introduction•••

First ‘New Technology’ Marine Navigation Radar for 60 years
Conforms to requirements of IMO & IEC‘Family’ of Products– Built-in Flexibility through design and part selection– Considered future enhancements during concept/design phase– 100% PV Funded Development•

Performance/Cost Trade-Off– Minimum performance IEC 62388 (new radar standard - July 2008)• More performance expected but not at expense of production cost/quality• Achieve performance through innovation– Economies of scale• Re-use of components/sub-assemblies throughout product range•

Reliability and Maintainability high on our priorities

SharpEye
World’s 1st Solid State
Marine Navigation RadarFeatures include:•Solid state transmitter•Coherent transmitter and receiver•Pulse compression•Digital signal processing•Interference suppression•Low voltage operation

What sets Sharpeye apart• Incorporates advantages in semi-conductor based
radars but at a cost that competes with conventional
magnetron systems• Sharpeye incorporates low power RF architecture.
• Sharpeye outputs a clever frame of transmission pulses
in a specified sequence• Utilises Doppler processing techniques

New Technologies - Solid State Transmitter• Solid State Transmitter– Uses transistors instead of amagnetron– >200W peak power @ 13% duty
– Coherent• RF transmissions have consistent
phase & timing relationship– Controlled RF Spectrum• ITU Compliance– Selection of 12 RF frequencies• Extremely stable oscillators– No tuning necessary– Digital Waveform Generation• Direct Digital Synthesis

Traditional Magnetron Radar
30,000W

Narrow pulse

Revolutionary Performance
200W

Long Pulse

Since…
Energy = power X time…by significantly increasing the lengthof the pulse, the total energy leaving theaerial is more than equivalent to theenergy leaving a 30kw system despite
the peak pulse being reduced by morethan 99%.

Revolutionary Performance
170W

Coherent Signal40200-20-40-60-80-100-120
0.000002

0.000004

0.000006

0.000008

0.00001

0.000012

0.000014

0.000016

0.000018

SharpEye
170W

Long Pulse with Pulse Compression

Solid State Transmitter - Transmission Frame

Short Pulse

Medium Pulse

Long Pulse

3 Pulse Transmission Frame–––––––

Short Pulse enables 30m Minimum Range
Medium and Long Pulses provide Detection Performance
Range Cell Size recovered via Pulse Compression
Provides protection from multiple time around echoes
Composite Video Formed from Received Data from frame
Multiple Frames on Target per Beamwidth
Block of Frames Doppler Processed to extract Velocity Information

Frequency Diversity - Transmission Frame

Short Pulse

Medium Pulse

Long Pulse

Diversity Transmission Frame––––––

Additional Pulses inserted into frame
Second receiver channel and signal processor added
30m Minimum Range maintained
Channels processed independently & combined
Improved detection & clutter performance
Small improvement in multipath

SharpEyeTM - Solid State Transmitter•Transmissions

Pulse Energy Comparison– Pulse Energy
0.035

SharpEyeTM

0.03

Pulse Energy (mJ)

• Energy in pulse limits detection range,
NOT peak power– Minimum range

Magnetron Radar

0.025• For monostatic radar pulse duration
defines minimum range– IEC 60936 states 50m (333ns)

0.02– Complex pattern of 3 pulses/frame

0.015

•

Provides energy for detection and meets
minimum range constraint• Allows detection of targets close to clutter

0.01
0.005

– Three Transmission Frame Types
0SP

24nm

MP

48nm

Pulse TypeLP96nm• 24nm Instrumented range• 48nm Instrumented range• 96nm Instrumented range

Digital Signal Processor Range Measurement

Pulse Compression converts long pulses into narrow range cells––Range Cell Size maintained over entire instrumented range
Short range performance in clutter and long range detection performance

Pulse Frame characteristics determined by Range Mode/Rotation Rate––

Appropriate pulse length automatically selected
Reduced operator loading

Instrumented Range is independent of Range Display Setting–

Enables Tracking of target out to Instrumented range (e.g 24nm) regardless ofdisplay setting

Linear receiver–

Pulses are not stretched as in a logarithmic amplifier

Digital Signal Processor
Velocity Measurement
SharpEyeTM determines Target Velocity via Doppler Processing
Conventional Radar
Targets must have an amplitude larger than the clutter to be detected• Clutter controlled by raising threshold - small targets disappear
Sharpeye Monostatic Pulse Radar
Targets and clutter are separated by measuring the radial velocity of target• Frequency shifts in the returned signal helps to distinguish between target
and clutter• FFT or MTD Doppler Processing mechanisms available– MTD enables variation in filter characteristics across velocity space•

Flexibility of implementation provides potential for future growth– Adaptive MTD

Performance: In Clutter
Power (db)0Land-10SeaTarget-20

Rain-30
Velocity (m/s)-606121824

SharpEye™ Pulse Doppler
Doppler Map– Echoes from 1 burst (32 pulses)• Data obtained from Hainault area in
September 2005
– X axis (Horizontal)» Radial Velocity– Y axis (Out of Page)» Range– Z axis (Vertical)» Signal Amplitude– Central Ridge• Ground Clutter (zero velocity)– Right Half Plane (+ve velocity)• Two Targets

Solid State Transceiver - Physical Implementation

RF Front EndSignal Generator

Receiver

Digital Signal Processor

Solid State Transceiver - PhysicalImplementation•

Internally 4 Layers– RF Front End• Power Amplifier• Circulator• Low Noise Amplifier– Signal Generator• Coherent Oscillators• DDS Waveform Generator• Up Converter– Receiver• Down Converter• Analogue to Digital Converter– Digital Signal Processor••••

Pulse Compression
Doppler Processing
CFAR & Detection
Video Output & Control

Product Description•

Solid State Radar for Naval & Coastal Applications
 S Band (2.9-3.1 GHz) and X Band (9.0-9.7 GHz) Upmast Systems
 Unstabilised Antenna Electronics Housing Transceiver Conduction cooled Functionally equivalent Frequency Dependent variations

 Multi-Mode Digital Signal Processor
 Doppler Processing enables Velocity Measurement

 High Reliability
 Flexible Design for Future GrowthExamples of SharpEye BITE
TX POWER
Will show up when thetransmitter is running at half
power.

TX NOT READY
Tx has 2 stage start up. VSWR
is checked before Tx goes tofull power.

NO SYNC
Will show up
when the Txstops or when theTrigger circuits
go faulty
VSWR
Will show up
when thetransmitteroutput detects
a poor VSWR

NO H/L. Will show up ifantenna not turning or if
the Heading Line circuits
are faulty.

NO AZIMUTH
Will show up whenscanner stopped orwhen azimuth pulse
circuits are faulty
NO VIDEO
Will show up when thetransmitter is not runningor when there is a fault in
the receiver circuits

Standard System Modes and Sub-functions•Surface Picture Modes– Primary System Modes– Defined by Instrumented Range (24nm & 48nm)– Operator Selection via Display•Rotation Rate– Supports 12rpm, 24rpm, 46rpm Nominal Rates– Custom Waveform Design for Rotation Rate/Range Mode

•Sub-functions– Reduced Power• 7dB Reduction in Peak Power– Reverse Sweep• Reversed Pulse Modulation in Transmit

System Modes - Incremental
Capability Growth•Flexible Design enables Incremental Capability Growth– Helicopter Tracking Mode
• Higher Maximum Unambiguous Velocities (Up to 300 Knots)• Reduced Instrumented Range (10 nm)– Short Range Mode••••

Low Power Mode
Modified Transmission Waveform
Reduced Instrumented Range (3-4 nm)
Designed for Close In/Harbour Operation– Frequency Diversity• Provision made for Auxiliary RF Channel in Receiver• Custom Transmission Waveform and Signal ProcessingReliability, Maintainability, Availability– Reliability• Transceiver >50,000 hours– >5 years continuous use (24/7)– Maintainability• Continuous Monitoring– Peak Power, VSWR and Receiver Sensitivity– Automatically alarms when outside specified limits– Graceful degradation• Repair Philosophy– Replacement of Major Unit
– Mean Time To Repair < 1 hour

– Availability• Transceiver– 99.995%

SharpEye™ S Band (NATO F Band) Radar• Solid State– Transistor Power Amplifier ReplacesMagnetron» High Reliability & No ‘Lifed’ Items» Low Voltages 36v max.

– Low Peak Power 170W min, 200W
typically» Pulse Compression Recovers Range
Resolution» Triggers RACONs• Optional Pulse Doppler variant– Coherent– Separates targets from clutter• IMO compliant to current and ‘new’(2008) standards

SharpEye™ S Band (NATO F Band) Radar
Cost vs Performance Comparison
Performance• Exceeds magnetron radars in almost allconditions
10m2 target sea state 5 and heavy clutter conditions

Cost••••

0.5m2 target sea state 5 and heavy clutter conditions

Acquisition
Comparable with a magnetron system
Through-lifeLess than a magnetron system

S Band SharpEye™ in Gothenburg

Comparison: S Band SharpEye™ with 25kW X Band
Magnetron RadarS Band SharpEye™ in Gothenburg

Conclusions

SharpEye - the first ‘New’ marine radar since 1948
Technology “borrowed” from military systems
Designed to meet IMO performance standards– Cost a major design driver

Reliability not performance the customers prime interest

Ting Kau Bridge

SharpEye™ X Band (NATO I Band) Radar– Solid State• Transistor Power Amplifier– High Reliability & No ‘Lifed’ Items– Low Voltages 15v max.
• Peak power 170W min, 200W typ– Pulse Compression Recovers RangeResolution– Triggers RACONs & SARTs• Operational frequency– 9.0 GHz - 9.5 GHz– IMO compliant over band 9.2 GHz - 9.5GHz– Pulse Doppler– Coherent– Measures the radial velocity of targets– Separates targets from clutter

SharpEye™ X Band (NATO I Band) Radar•Cost vs Performance Comparison•Performance• Exceptional in its class• Exceeds magnetron radars inalmost all conditions
10m2 target sea state 5 and heavy clutter conditions– Cost• Acquisition– Comparable with amagnetron system• Through-life– Less than a magnetron
system0.5m2 target sea state 5 and heavy clutter conditions

Conventional X Band

Range

3nm

TX

Mag

ETD

Off

Weather

Snow

Sea

4

Sharpeye X Band

Range

3nm

TX

Solid State

Weather

Snow

Sea

4Range

1.5nm

TX

Solid State

Weather

Clear

Sea

3Range1.5nm

TX

Magnetron

Weather

Clear

Sea

3

Range1.5nm

TX

Magnetron

Weather

Clear

Sea

3

Range

1.5nm

TX

Solid State

Weather

Clear

Sea

3

SharpEye™ - Coastal Surveillance & VTS•Coastal– S Band• High reliability• Excellent performance in weather• Frequency diversity– X Band••••High reliability
Good performance in weather
Frequency diversity
High angular resolution– Dual Band
• S & X in a single turning unit
– Detection of small boats•Vessel Traffic Management• S or X band
• Ports and harbours

Sharpeye System Summary• Solid state technical sensor that meets latest
requirements for situational awareness, navigation
safety, small target detection and helicopter tracking
in high clutter• Technology “borrowed” from military systems but
delivered in a commercial cost effective system• Designed to meet /exceed IMO performance standards• Uses latest signal and graphic processing technology• Software upgradable – future enhancements planned• Low maintenance• Low through life costs