Method and apparatus for radar surveillance

Communications: directive radio wave systems and devices (e.g. – Presence detection only

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Details

342189, 342378, 342158, G01S 1304

Patent

active

046654003

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to radar surveillance by means of a multi lobe antenna that is used for both transmission and reception. Power to be radiated by the antenna is distributed in several simultaneous and uniform radiation lobes which are swept across a zone to be surveyed.


BACKGROUND ART

In conventional, directed single lobe radar antennas the scanning of a target involves a risk of interception of the radiated radar signal, detection of said signal being dependent on the effective radiated power (ERP).
For reducing the risk of detection the radiated power has previously been reduced by distributing the power in the domains of time and frequency. However, this reduction of power has not been quite sufficient in practice to protect against detection.
British patent specification No. 1.302.923 discloses a scanning method for a fixed antenna where the lobe pattern of the antenna is varied by modulation of the antenna properties. The modulation is dependent on the radiation angle and is identified by means of correlators or matched filters. A control unit generates codes including modulation signals which represent phase and amplitude functions for each element of the antenna. The modulation signals are simultaneously supplied to a respective modulation member of each antenna element. The antenna transmits in sequence as many lobe patterns as the number of codes which are fed from the control unit to said modulation members.
In theory the modulation of the antenna properties according to said British patent specification should be satisfactory and would result in a small risk of detection due to a possible reduction of the radiated power. However, said method requires a large number of controllable modulation members, viz. equal to the number of antenna elements. The multitude of said controllable modulation members reduces the reliability, in spite of the fact that the antenna is fixed as is required for this method. Morever, the fact that the antenna is fixed and therefore covers a limited solid angle makes the method less attractive.
A more serious drawback of said method is that (as a result of the repeated variation of the lobe pattern which involves an undesired phase variation) the signal coherency during scanning on the target can only be attained for symmetric lobe patterns which results in a great limitation of the number of possible lobe patterns, in turn entailing a larger risk of detection than desired.
It is also known to distribute the radiated power spatially in several simultaneous time invariant lobes by means of a multilobe antenna thereby reducing the risk of detection. However, the relatively large angular value of the total sector angle of such a conventional multilobe radar antenna causes both the accuracy of measurment and the angular discrimination to become unsatisfactory.


DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the invention to provide a method and an apparatus in radar surveillance which enhance protection against detection and at the same time facilitate a good angular discrimination between different targets and moreover facilitate a high accurracy of measurment.
This object is achieved by utilizing a single multilobe antenna for both transmission and reception for the radiation of the power supplied over several simultaneous and uniform lobes, said lobes being swept across a zone to be surveyed. According to the invention the antenna properties are maintained invariant and each signal transmitted or received by the antenna is coded by allocating a particular code element to each lobe. Each code element is fixed for forming, when the lobes sweep, the received signals into a reception sequence, the elements of which have predetermined mutual relations. The reception sequence is correlated by means of a correlation sequence, the elements of which are proportional to the conjugated elements of said reception sequence.
The elements having mutual predetermined relations form a sequence, which preferably is chosen such that its auto correlation f

REFERENCES:
patent: 3268893 (1966-08-01), Hauer
patent: 4079379 (1978-03-01), Piesinger
patent: 4079381 (1978-03-01), Piesinger
patent: 4152702 (1979-05-01), Piesinger
patent: 4156876 (1979-05-01), Debuisser
patent: 4156877 (1979-05-01), Piesinger
patent: 4180814 (1979-12-01), Barton
patent: 4285048 (1981-08-01), Casasent et al.
patent: 4309769 (1982-01-01), Taylor, Jr.
patent: 4315263 (1982-02-01), Neidell

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