A primary consideration in the design of virtually every radar is the frequency of the transmitted radio waves - the radar's operating frequency. How close a radar may come to satisfying many of the requirements imposed on it - detection range, angular resolution, doppler performance, size, weight, cost, etc. - often hinges on the choice of radio frequency. This choice, in turn, has a major impact on many important aspects of the design and implementation of the radar. In this chapter, we will survey the broad span of radio frequencies used by radars and examine the factors which determine the optimum choice of frequency for particular applications.

Chapter Contents:

• Frequencies Used for Radar
• Frequency Bands
• Influence of Frequency on Radar Performance
• Selecting the Optimum Frequency

Inspec keywords: Doppler radar; radar signal processing; radar detection

Other keywords: Doppler performance; angular resolution; detection range; radar operating frequency; transmitted radio waves; radio frequency

Subjects: Signal detection; Radar theory; Radar equipment, systems and applications