A major project report on

MODE SELECTION, INTERFACING AND ANTENNA SIMULATION FOR 30MHz HIGH FREQUENCY RADAR OPERATION
Submitted by:
K.SUKANYA (083F1A0463) G.PRIYANKA (083F1A0445) D.PREETHI (083F1A0443) P.RAMYA (083F1A0448) Guided by Internal guide: Mr.Lokesh, Ass. Prof of ECE dept. KITE-W, puttur. External guide: Mr.Kamaraju Scientist/Engineer NARL, Gadanki.

KKC INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN

Preface about NARL:

NARL is an autonomous research laboratory fully funded by the Department of
Space, Government of India and involved in carrying out fundamental and applied research in Atmospheric and Space Sciences. It had its humble beginning in 1992 as the National Mesosphere-Stratosphere-Troposphere(MST) Radar Facility. Over the years several complementary techniques such as Rayleigh/Mie lidars, wind profilers have been added. NARL is administered by a Governing Council with Secretary, DOS as the Chairman and Director, NARL as member secretary. The Governing Council sets broad policy guidelines for NARL. A Scientific Advisory Committee consisting of eminent scientists in the field of atmospheric science, monitors the research activities and progress of NARL and provides future directions.

NARL has now become one of the prime centers for atmospheric research in the country and operates a state-of-the-art MST radar, Rayleigh/ Mie Lidar, Boundary Layer Lidar, Sodium Lidar, Lower Atmospheric Wind Profiler, Sodar, Disdrometer, Optical Rain Gauge, Dual frequency GPS receiver, Automatic Weather Station apart from regular launching of the GPS balloon sonde. Being relatively young, NARLs research activities are spearheaded by a team of young and vibrant fulltime research scientists and students. This web site provides some salient features of the activities and experimental facilities available for national and international collaborative research work.

Abstract:
At present in NARL

(Gadanki

(13.5_ N,79.2_ E)),

MST Radar (53MHz) is using for the analysis of 3 layers namely Mesosphere, Stratosphere, and Troposphere and also it gives information regarding Ionosphere. For these layers analysis the MST radar uses a High Frequency of 53MHz. By reducing the frequency to 30MHz, obtained wavelength is efficient for analysis of ionosphere parameters. This proposed radar in NARL by using a frequency of 30MHz which is having Doppler Beam Switch (DBS) mode and interferometer mode to study the low latitude ionospheric plasma irregularities. The proposed radar will have beam steering capability to scan a large part of the sky(using 500 azimuthal scanning) , which will overcome the limitations of the slit camera mode operation of the 53MHz MST Radar, to map the large scale ionospheric plasma irregularity/structures. This capability will provide important clue as to how the F region plasma bubble development are related to sunset terminator, how for the irregulaties are the related to the speed is perturbation , etc. . Secondly the proposed radar will have interferometry capability to study vertical profile of zonal drift of the irregularities, small scale plasma structures, and plasma turbulence. The aperiodic pulse scheme to be implemented will be used to study the turbulence further. While the main intent is to develop a highly flexible radar interferometer for ionospheric irregularity research , it is also intended studying the meteor induced echoes to dry neutral wind and temperature variabilitys in the upper mesosphere and lower thermosphere and the meteor induced plasma instability process. In this overall project, our project is dealing regarding the mode selection and interfacing of 30MHz HF Radar by switching the appropriate DBS or Meteor mode for operation.

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER-1 RADARS

RADAR:
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, missiles, motor, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio waves or microwaves which bounce off any object in their path. The object returns a tiny part of the wave's energy to a dish or antenna which is usually located at the same site as the transmitter. Radar was developed in nations across the world during World War II. The term RADAR was coined in 1941 by the United States Navy as

an acronym for Radio Detection and Ranging. Radar systems have been designed and are in use for a very broad spectrum of applications. One of the major applications of the Radar system is in the atmospheric research, because of their simplicity, reliability and virtue of the fact a radar system provides a means of sampling the atmosphere at a rapid rate in a cost effective way. The Radar techniques make use of the fundamental properties of an electromagnetic (radio) wave. They are frequency, phase, amplitude and polarization. Atmospheric radars derive information on the dynamical atmospheric phenomena by making use of the variations on the above four parameters of radio waves which are transmitted from the radar system, backscattered by the atmosphere and received by the radar system again. The tracer elements for the study of atmospheric dynamics using microwave radar are the hydrometeors (rain, snow, hail, etc.) and have the wavelength of a few centimeters. The modern uses of radar are highly diverse, including air traffic control, radar astronomy, air-defense systems, antimissile systems; marine radars to locate landmarks and other ships; outer aircraft space anti collision systems; ocean and rendezvous

surveillance systems,

surveillance

systems; meteorological precipitation monitoring; altimetry and flight control systems; guided missile target locating systems; and ground-penetrating radar for geological observations. High tech radar systems are associated with digital signal processing and are capable of extracting objects from very high noise levels.

PRINCIPLE:
A radar system has a transmitter that emits radio waves called radar signals in predetermined directions. When these come into contact with an object they are usually reflected and/or scattered in many directions. Radar signals are reflected especially well by materials of considerable electrical conductivity. The radar signals that are reflected back towards the transmitter are the desirable ones that make radar work. If the object is moving either closer or farther away, there is a slight change in the frequency of the radio waves, caused by the Doppler Effect.

Fig: General block diagram of RADAR Radar receivers are usually, but not always, in the same location as the transmitter. Although the reflected radar signals captured by the receiving antenna are usually very weak, these signals can be strengthened by electronic amplifiers. More sophisticated methods of signal processing are also used in order to recover useful radar signals.

The weak absorption of radio waves by the medium through which it passes is what enables radar sets to detect objects at relatively long ranges. Ranges at which other electromagnetic wavelengths, such as visible light, infrared light,

and ultraviolet light, are too strongly attenuated. Such things as fog, clouds, rain, falling snow, and sleet that block visible light are usually transparent to radio waves. Certain radio frequencies that are absorbed or scattered by water vapor, raindrops, or atmospheric gases (especially oxygen) are avoided in designing radars except when detection of these is intended.

TYPES OF RADARS:
There are two Types of Radar Detectors: 1. Pulse radar 2. Continuous-wave radar
o o

Doppler Radar Frequency-Modulated Radar Pulse Radar sends out signals in short (few millionths of a second)

but powerful bursts or pulses. Pulse Radar determines distance (range) by measuring the time it takes a radar wave to get to the target object and to come back (time of flight) and then divides that time in two (distance to the target). Since all radio waves travel at the same speed of light, this known speed multiplied by the time of flight can be used to determine distance. By continuing to track an object with pulse radar the speed of the object can also be determined.

Continuous-Wave Radar sends out a continuous signal instead of short bursts. There are two types of Continuous Wave Radar: a. Doppler Radar b. Frequency Modulated (FM radar) a) Doppler Radar is used mostly to make precise speed measurements and is most often utilized by police traffic radars. Doppler radar transmits a continuous wave of a constant frequency. When this frequency strikes a moving object the frequency is changed and the new frequency returning to the radar

is used to determine the speed of the moving target. b) Frequency-Modulated Radar also transmits a continuous signal, but it rapidly increases or decreases the frequency of the signal at regular intervals. As a result FM Radar, unlike Doppler Radar, can determine distance (range) as well as velocity (speed).

APPLICATIONS:
Radar supports air traffic control by providing surveillance of aircraft and weather in the vicinity of airports as well as en route between airports. Radar also has been used to "talk down" pilots to safe landings in adverse weather conditions. This is called ground-controlled approach (GCA) by the military. (i) Remote sensing. One of the early applications of remote sensing involved the observation of rainfall. The radar measurement of the radial velocity of precipitation (from the Doppler frequency shift) in conjunction with the strength of the reflected signals (reflectivity) can indicate the severity of storms, as well as provide other important information for reliable weather forecasting (see also CLIMATE AND WEATHER: Meteorological measurement and weather forecasting: History of weather forecasting: Modern trends and developments: Application of radar). Astronomers have made radar observations of meteors, auroras, and certain planets. Synthetic aperture radars on orbiting spacecraft have mapped the surface of Venus beneath the ever-present cloud cover that blocks observation at optical wavelengths. Space-based radar systems have measured the Earth's geoid and ocean roughness. An important application of imaging radar from either aircraft or spacecraft is the surveillance of sea ice; information about pack ice distribution and concentration is used to route shipping in cold-weather regions. Radar has even been used to study the movement of birds and insects at distances and under conditions where visual observation would not be possible. (ii) Aircraft navigation. The radar altimeter measures the height of an airplane above the local terrain, Doppler navigation radar determines the plane's own speed and direction, and

high-resolution radar mapping of the ground contributes to its navigation. Radars carried aboard aircraft also provide information about the location of dangerous weather so that it can be avoided. Military aircraft can fly at low altitudes with the aid of terrain-avoidance and terrain-following radars that warn of obstacles. (iii) Ship safety. Small, relatively simple radar systems on board ships aid in piloting and collision avoidance. Similar radars on land provide harbour surveillance. (iv) Space applications. Radars have been used in space for rendezvous, docking, and landing of spacecraft. Since size and weight are important in space, the same equipment is used on a time-shared basis aboard the U.S. Space Shuttle both as radar to allow rendezvous with (and sometimes retrieve) other spacecraft and as a two-way data link to relay satellites that communicate with ground stations. Besides providing remote sensing of the Earth's surface (see above), radar carried by orbiting spacecraft is able to monitor rainfall over the oceans. Large land-based radar systems permit the detection and tracking of satellites and space debris. (v) Law enforcement. The familiar police radar is a relatively simple, low-power continuous-wave system that measures the speed of vehicles by detecting the Doppler frequency shift introduced in the echo signal by a moving vehicle. The Doppler shift is directly proportional to the radial speed of the vehicle. (A similar kind of CW radar is used to measure the speed of a baseball to determine how fast a pitcher can throw.) Radar also has been used in security systems for intrusion detection; it can "sense" the movement of people attempting to penetrate a protected area. (vi) Instrumentation. Surveyors may make use of special radars to measure distances. CW radars are used to measure speed in certain industrial applications; the sensor does not make contact with the object whose speed is to be determined. Instrumentation radars are employed at missile test ranges for precision tracking of targets.

SODAR:
SODAR (SOnic Detection And Ranging), also written as Sodar, is a meteorological instrument used as a wind profiler to measure the scattering of sound waves by atmospheric turbulence. SODAR systems are used to measure wind speed at various heights above the ground, and the thermodynamic structure of the lower layer of the atmosphere. Sodar systems are like radar (radio detection and ranging) systems except that sound waves rather than radio waves are used for detection. Other names used for Sodar systems include sounder, echo sounder and acoustic radar. The control unit conducts real-time signal processing, and determines the range and azimuth of a point audio source. Once these numbers are computed, the controller renders a display - much like a radar scope - and places a dot on it at the location of the source. Fig1 provides a block diagram of SODAR system. Four microphones are precisely arranged in a formation commonly called a Y-Array. The number of microphones, array geometry, and distance between microphones has a strong impact on the performance of the SODAR system. Specifically, angular resolution is greatly improved with four microphones in a YArray, and the distance between microphones affects range and frequency performance. This will be explained more thoroughly in the Details section.

Fig: General block diagram of SODAR

The four input streams are fed into a control unit, which in our case was a computer running MATLAB. Each stream is compared to the stream from the central microphone by a function performing fast convolution. This essentially takes the shifted inner products of the two signals, and from the result, we can easily determine the phase shift between the two streams. When done with all three pairs of microphones, we find the time delays between when the signal was received by the central microphone and each of the peripheral microphones. With the delays between the central and peripheral microphones, we can now triangulate to pinpoint the target's location. This result can be shown on a polar plot, which provides a convenient graphical display

SODAR APPLICATIONS:
Sodar has a variety of applications. While those listed below. 1. Wind Energy: Wind Energy has brought new life to the wind measurement industry, including Sodar. With wind turbine hub heights reaching over 100m and blade spans of up to 80m, measurements across the entire blade swept area are becoming critical. Sodar provides that information and ASC's Sodar offer more. 2. The Space Shuttle: For decades, ASC Sodar have streamed data straight to the shuttle war room. This information is critical for fueling and launch information. Even the presence of short wind gust can have disastrous consequences. Knowing this information is of the utmost importance. Without this data, fuel lines can become detached from the shuttle. Also, during the sensitive first moments of the shuttle launch, a gust could knock the shuttle off course. The use of Sodar provides the answer to monitoring these conditions. 3. Emergency Response - Specifically Fire: Sodar provides an easily deployable monitoring device that can help teams understand where the fires are headed and how best to combat them. This information can help reduce fatalities and structural damage 4 Airports: Sodar provides critical information on several fronts for airports as well. This information is both weather related and plane related. Since lives are at risk, timeliness of information is of the utmost importance.

LIDAR:

LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging, also LADAR) is an optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of a target by illuminating the target with light, often using pulses from a laser. LIDAR technology has application

in geomatics, archaeology, geography,geology, geomorphology, seismology, fores try, remote sensing and atmospheric physics, as well as in airborne laser swath mapping (ALSM), laser altimetry and LIDAR contour mapping. The acronym LADAR (Laser Detection and Ranging) is often used in military contexts. The term "laser radar" is sometimes used, even though LIDAR does not employ microwaves or radio wave sand therefore is not radar in the strict sense of the word.

OPERATION:
The principles of LIDAR are similar to RADAR . In the case of LIDAR a laser pulse is reflected from a rotating mirror inside a laser scanner. The scanner itself can also rotate in some cases. By measuring the time delay between when the laser pulse is emitted, and when it returns to the scanner, the distance between the scanner and the object can be precisely determined. The scanner can also accurately measure angles. When all of the distance, angular and positional information is processed the scanner can produce a highly accurate 3 dimensional data set, which is sometimes referred to as a point cloud. This active sensor approach enjoys many advantages over single point, passive optical surveying instruments and camera systems. The platforms from which a LIDAR sensor can be used include satellite, aerial, tripod, handheld and the hottest technology appears to be mobile mapping. The applications range from atmospheric research to transportation surveys, from heritage preservation to automobile design, and from parts reengineering to offshore platform retrofits. The rock group Radiohead just used a scanner for graphics effects at one of their concerts.

Fig: LIDAR Equipment and its result

APPLICATIONS: LIDAR has its unique applications in different fields like,

Agriculture: LIDAR also can be used to help farmers determine which areas of their fields to apply costly fertilizer. LIDAR can create a topographical map of the fields and reveals the slopes and sun exposure of the farm land. This technology is valuable to farmers because it indicates which areas to apply the expensive fertilizers to achieve the highest crop yield. Archaeology: LIDAR has many applications in the field of archaeology including aiding in the planning of field campaigns, mapping features beneath forest canopy,[8] and providing an overview of broad. Biology and conservation: LIDAR has also found many applications in forestry. Canopy heights, biomass measurements, and leaf area can all be studied using airborne LIDAR systems. Similarly, LIDAR is also used by many industries, including Energy and Railroad, and the Department of Transportation as a faster way of surveying. Geology and soil science: LIDAR's abilities to detect subtle topographic features such as river terraces and river channel banks, measure the land surface elevation

beneath the vegetation canopy, better resolve spatial derivatives of elevation, and detect elevation changes between repeat surveys have enabled many novel studies of the physical and chemical processes that shape landscapes Meteorology and atmospheric environment: The first LIDAR systems were used for studies of atmospheric composition, structure, clouds, and aerosols. Initially based on ruby lasers, LIDAR for meteorological applications was constructed shortly after the invention of the laser and represent one of the first applications of laser technology. Military: Higher resolution systems collect enough detail to identify targets, such as tanks. Here the name LADAR is more common. Examples of military applications of LIDAR include the Airborne Laser Mine Detection System (ALMDS) for counter-mine warfare by Aret Associates.

CHAPTER-2 LAYERS

The earth is surrounded by the atmosphere, which is the body of air or gasses that protects the planet and enables life. Most of our atmosphere is located close to the earth's surface where it is most dense. The air of our planet is 79% nitrogen and just under 21% oxygen; the small amount remaining is composed of carbon dioxide and other gasses. There are five distinct layers of the earth. Let's look at each, from closest to farthest from the earth... The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention (greenhouse effect), and reducing temperature extremes

between day and night (the diurnal temperature variation).

TROPOSPHERE

This is the layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth's surface, extending up to about 10-15 km above the Earth's surface. It contains 75% of the atmosphere's mass. The troposphere is wider at the equator than at the poles. Temperature and pressure drops as yougohigherupthetroposphere.

The Tropopause: At the very top of the troposphere is the tropopause where the temperature reaches a (stable) minimum. Some scientists call the tropopause a "cold trap" because this is a point where rising water vapour cannot go higher because it changes into ice and is trapped. If there is no cold trap, Earth would loose all its water! The uneven heating of the regions of the troposphere by the Sun causes convection currents and winds. Warm air from Earth's surface rises and cold air above it rushes in to replace it. When warm air reaches the tropopause, it cannot go higher as the air above it (in the stratosphere) is warmer and lighter. Preventing much air convection beyond the tropopause. The tropopause acts like an invisible barrier and is the reason why most clouds form and weather phenomena occur within the troposphere.

The Greenhouse Effect: Heat from the Sun warms the Earth's surface but most of it is radiated and sent back into space. Water vapour and carbon dioxide in the troposphere trap some of this heat, preventing it from escaping thus keep the Earth warm. This trapping of heat is called the "greenhouse effect".

However, if there is too much carbon dioxide in the troposphere then it will trap too much heat. Scientists are afraid that the increasing amounts of carbon dioxide would raise the Earth's surface temperature, bringing significant changes to worldwide weather patterns ... shifting in climatic zones and the melting of the polar ice caps, which could raise the level of the world's oceans.

1. STRATOSPHERE

This layer lies directly above the troposphere and is about 35 km deep. It extends from about 15 to 50 km above the Earth's surface. The lower portion of the stratosphere has a nearly constant temperature with height but in the upper portion the temperature increases with altitude because of absorption of sunlight by ozone. This temperature increase with altitude is the opposite of the situation in the troposphere.

The Ozone Layer: The stratosphere contains a thin layer of ozone which absorbs most of the harmful ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. The ozone layer is being depleted, and is getting thinner over Europe, Asia, North American and Antarctica --- "holes" are appearing in the ozone layer.

2. MESOSPHERE

Directly above the stratosphere, extending from 50 to 80 km above the Earth's surface, the mesosphere is a cold layer where the temperature generally decreases with increasing altitude. Here in the mesosphere, the atmosphere is very rarefied nevertheless thick enough to slow down meteors hurtling into the atmosphere, where they burn up, leaving fiery trails in the night sky.

3. THERMOSPHERE

The thermosphere extends from 80 km above the Earth's surface to outer space. The temperature is hot and may be as high as thousands of degrees as the few molecules that are present in the thermosphere receive extraordinary large amounts of energy from the Sun. However, the thermosphere would actually feel very cold to us because of the probability that these few molecules will hit our skin and transfer enough energy to cause appreciable heat is extremely low. The combination of Thermosphere and Mesosphere is called Ionosphere.

IONOSPHERE:
The ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, from about 85 km to 600 km altitude, comprising portions of the mesosphere,thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere. It has practical importance because, among other functions, it influences radio propagation to distant places on the Earth.[1]

Fig: Relationship of the atmosphere and ionosphere

GEOPHYSICS:
The ionosphere is a shell of electrons and electrically charged atoms and molecules that surrounds the Earth, stretching from a height of about 50 km to more than 1000 km. It owes its existence primarily to ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. The lowest part of the Earth's atmosphere, the troposphere extends from the surface to about 10 km (6.2 mi). Above 10 km is the stratosphere, followed by the mesosphere. In the stratosphere incoming solar radiation creates the ozone layer. At heights of above 80 km (50 mi), in the thermosphere, the atmosphere is so thin that free electrons can exist for short periods of time before they are captured by a nearby positive ion. The number of these free electrons is sufficient to affect radio propagation. This portion of the atmosphere is ionized and contains a plasma which is referred to as the ionosphere. In a plasma, the negative free electrons and the positive ions are attracted to each other by the electromagnetic force, but they are too energetic to stay fixed together in an electrically neutral molecule. Ultraviolet (UV), X-Ray and shorter wavelengths of solar radiation are ionizing, since photons at these frequencies contain sufficient energy to dislodge an electron from a neutral gas atom or molecule upon absorption. In this process the light electron obtains a high velocity so that the temperature of the created electronic gas is much higher (of the order of thousand K) than the one of ions and neutrals. The reverse process to Ionization is recombination, in which a free electron is "captured" by a positive ion, occurs spontaneously. This causes the emission of a photon carrying away the energy produced upon recombination. As gas density increases at lower altitudes, the recombination process prevails, since the gas molecules and ions are closer together. The balance between these two processes determines the quantity of ionization present. Ionization depends primarily on the Sun and its activity. The amount of ionization in the ionosphere varies greatly with the amount of radiation received from the Sun. Thus there is a diurnal (time of day) effect and a seasonal effect. The local winter hemisphere is tipped away from the Sun, thus there is less received solar radiation. The activity of the Sun is associated with the sunspot cycle, with more radiation occurring with more sunspots. Radiation received also varies with geographical location (polar, auroral zones, mid-latitudes, and equatorial regions). There are also mechanisms that disturb the ionosphere and decrease the ionization. There are disturbances such as solar flares and the associated release of charged particles into the solar wind which reaches the Earth and interacts with its geomagnetic field.

The ionospheric layers

Fig: Ionospheric layers. At night the F layer is the only layer of significant ionization present, while the ionization in the E and D layers is extremely low. During the day, the D and E layers become much more heavily ionized, as does the F layer, which develops an additional, weaker region of ionisation known as the F1 layer. The F2 layer persists by day and night and is the region mainly responsible for the refraction of radio waves. D layer The D layer is the innermost layer, 60 km to 90 km above the surface of the Earth. Ionization here is due to Lyman series-alpha hydrogen radiation at a wavelength of 121.5 nanometre(nm) ionizing nitric oxide (NO). In addition, with high Solar activity hard X-rays (wavelength < 1 nm) may ionize (N2, O2). During the night cosmic rays produce a residual amount of ionization. Recombination is high in the D layer, the net ionization effect is low, but loss of wave energy is great due to frequent collisions of the electrons (about ten collisions every msec). As a result high-frequency (HF) radio waves are not reflected by the D layer but suffer loss of energy therein. This is the main reason for absorption of HF radio waves, particularly at 10 MHz and below, with progressively smaller absorption as the frequency gets higher. The absorption is small at night and greatest about midday. The layer reduces greatly after sunset; a small part remains due to galactic cosmic rays. A common example of the D layer in action is the disappearance of distant AM broadcast band stations in the daytime. During solar proton events, ionization can reach unusually high levels in the Dregion over high and polar latitudes. Such very rare events are known as Polar Cap Absorption (or PCA) events, because the increased ionization significantly enhances the absorption of radio signals passing through the region. In fact, absorption levels can increase by many tens of dB during intense events, which is

enough to absorb most (if not all) transpolar HF radio signal transmissions. Such events typically last less than 24 to 48 hours. E layer The E layer is the middle layer, 90 km to 120 km above the surface of the Earth. Ionization is due to soft X-ray (1-10 nm) and far ultraviolet (UV) solar radiation ionization of molecular oxygen (O2). Normally, at oblique incidence, this layer can only reflect radio waves having frequencies lower than about 10 MHz and may contribute a bit to absorption on frequencies above. However, during intense Sporadic Eevents, the Es layer can reflect frequencies up to 50 MHz and higher. The vertical structure of the E layer is primarily determined by the competing effects of ionization and recombination. At night the E layer rapidly disappears because the primary source of ionization is no longer present. After sunset an increase in the height of the E layer maximum increases the range to which radio waves can travel by reflection from the layer. This region is also known as the Kennelly-Heaviside Layer or simply the Heaviside layer. Its existence was predicted in 1902 independently and almost simultaneously by the American electrical engineer Arthur Edwin Kennelly (18611939) and the British physicist Oliver Heaviside(18501925). However, it was not until 1924 that its existence was detected by Edward V. Appleton. Es The Es layer (sporadic E-layer) is characterized by small, thin clouds of intense ionization, which can support reflection of radio waves, rarely up to 225 MHz. Sporadic-E events may last for just a few minutes to several hours. Sporadic E propagation makes radio amateurs very excited, as propagation paths that are generally unreachable can open up. F layer The F layer or region, also known as the Appleton layer extends from about 200 km to more than 500 km above the surface of Earth. It is the densest point of the ionosphere, which implies signals penetrating this layer will escape into space. At higher altitudes the amount of oxygen ions decreases and lighter ions such as hydrogen and helium become dominant, this layer is the topside ionosphere. Here extreme ultraviolet (UV, 10100 nm) solar radiation ionizes atomic oxygen. The F layer consists of one layer at night, but during the day, a deformation often forms in the profile that is labeled F1. The F2 layer remains by day and night responsible for most sky wave propagation of radio waves, facilitating high frequency (HF, or shortwave) radio communications over long distances.

PLASMA IRREGULARITES:

In the post sunset equatorial ionosphere, plasma depleted regions/bubbles with associated irregularity structures of scale sizes varying from centimeters to kilometers are generated due to plasma instability processes. The phase and amplitude of a radio signal passing through these irregularities undergo significant fluctuations, and such fluctuations can cause degradation in the GPS navigational accuracy and limitations in the GPS system tracking performance.

The ionospheric irregularities present a large dependence on the solar flux, the local time, the season, the latitude and longitude and the magnetic disturbances. The distribution of the GPS L-band scintillations according to these different parameters will be presented. In the Brazilian longitudinal sector the ionospheric F region irregularities present peculiarities due to several local physical conditions such as the high magnetic declination angle that characterize this region. The factors which are cause plasma irregulaties are listed below, 1. Local Time, Seasonal, and Solar Flux Effects 2. Latitudinal Effect 3. Longitudinal Effect 4. Magnetic Activity 5. Loss of Lock 6. GDOP and decrease of available satellite number. Existing criteria and its operation with effects: The ionospheric irregularities are generated after sunset over the magnetic equator due to plasma instabilities and the most important parameter for their development is the equatorial evening vertical plasma drift E B/B2 known as prereversal enhancement in vertical drift, when the eastward electric field is intensified due to the action of the F-region dynamo. During magnetic storms strong eastward (westward) electric field from the magnetosphere (disturbance dynamo) can penetrate to equatorial region intensifying (weakening) the upward plasma drift and consequently triggering (inhibiting) the ionospheric irregularities. Ionospheric irregularities cause scintillation in the GPS signal amplitude and phase and can affect telecommunication systems, and magnetically quiet time scintillation pattern can be modified during storms. The storms also can affect drastically. As there is a

strong interplay between the magnetospheric, ionospheric and atmospheric processes, which are substantially modified during magnetic storms .

During magnetic storms supersonic solar plasma emissions distort the magnetosphere (see Fig. 1), that is a cavity formed by the interaction of the solar wind with the Earths magnetic field. The magnetosphere has a long tail, that extends in the opposite direction to the Sun. According to Gonzalez a magnetic storm occurs when a long-lasting interplanetary convection electric field leads, through a substantial energization in the magnetosphere-ionosphere system, to an intensified ring current sufficiently strong to exceed some key threshold of the quantifying storm time Dst index. Energy from the solar wind is transferred to the ionosphere-thermosphere-magnetosphere system, intensifying convection electric fields in the magnetosphere and producing an enhancement of particles precipitation, and currents in the high latitude ionosphere. During magnetically disturbed periods the magnetospheric shielding layer is not effective to shield magnetospheric electric fields which therefore penetrate directly to low latitudes The structure and dynamics of the thermosphere and ionosphere is globally affected due to the increase of ionospheric conductivity, the Joule heating and the ion drag in the upper atmosphere of high latitudes and the disturbance dynamo gives origin to westward electric field that penetrates to equatorial region that could last up to 30 hours after the end of the storm main phase. The disturbed thermospheric circulation changes and the thermospheric meridional wind moves the plasma along magnetic field lines modifying the neutral composition distribution and consequently the recombination rates of ionized species.

The disturbed magnetospheric electric fields that penetrate to equatorial ionospheric region affect drastically the prereversal peak that is an intensification of the vertical plasma drift around 18-21 LT (21 LT corresponds to 24 UT for the Brazilian region un-der investigation in this work). The prereversal peak is explained through the action of uniform neutral wind in the F region (see Fig. 2).The electric field Ez generated by the F region dynamo ( U B) is mapped to the conjugated E-region along magnetic field lines as an electric field E

directed to the equator. This electric field generates a low latitude Hall

current, J , directed to west. A peculiar situation occurs at regions close to the day-night terminator.Due to the much larger dayside conductivity (as compared to the night-side), no current flows in the nocturnal E-region and consequently negative charge accumulates in the terminator and gives origin to an E field and to a current J that tries to cancel J (shown in Fig. 2). E is then mapped back to the F region and it causes, firstly, an upward EB drift of the plasma to higher altitudes and soon after, a downward drift around 21 LT. At low latitudes the ionosphere presents the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly (EIA) or Appleton Anomaly that consists of an ionospheric region with high electronic density peaks observed around 15 degrees north and south of the magnetic equator. This electronic density increase in low latitudes has its origin in

the upward vertical E B plasma drift of the equatorial F layer. As previously shown, the zonal electric field that exists in the equatorial ionosphere is directed to the east during day, creating an upward E B/B2 vertical drift velocity. Soon after the sun-set, this eastward electric field is intensified (prereversal peak) by the F region dynamo and the plasma from F region is uplifted to high altitudes. Meanwhile, the plasma from low altitudes quickly decline due decreasing of the intensity of incident solar radiation. After lifting to high altitudes in the equatorial region, the plasma starts a descent movement along magnetic field lines. This movement happens due to the action of gravity g and pressure gradient (p )

forces. This phenomenon (the plasma elevation and the subsequent descent along magnetic field lines to low latitudes) is known as the fountain effect (see the scheme in Fig. 3), giving origin to the Equatorial Ionization Anomaly.

The upward vertical plasma drift in the equator after sunset that gives origin to the prereversal peak, is the main factor responsible for the plasma irregularity generation . The irregularities in the electronic density causes a GPS signal to scintillate and the corresponding amplitude pattern which is elongated in the north-south direction on the grounds drift from west to east during magnetically quiet period. The ionospheric scintillation can be defined as fluctuations in the amplitude or phase of a radio wave. As the ionospheric scintillations are highly dependent of the upward vertical plasma drift in the equator driven by east-west electric fields, the penetration to equator of eastward (westward) electric field from magnetospheric (disturbance dynamo) origin during storms can trigger (inhibit) them. The scintillation amplitude is dependent also from the background ionization (TEC).

CHAPTER-3 MST RADAR

MST RADAR: An MST radar operating at 53 MHz with an average power aperture product of 7 108 W m2has been established at Gadanki (13.5 N, 79.2 E), India. The radar development has been accomplished in two phases. In the first phase it was commissioned in ST mode using a partial system comprising one quarter (16 16)of the Yagi antenna array and 16 driver units of the transmitters providing an average power aperture product of 4.8 106 W m2. MST radar is an instrument capable of providing estimates of atmospheric parameters with very high resolution on a continuous basis, which is essential for the study of different dynamical process in the atmosphere. Statistical description of atmospheric motions over the earth, their role in transporting the constituents of the atmosphere and the transformation of different forms of energy constitute the subject of atmospheric dynamics and is studied with sophisticated instrumentation systems . Hence it is important to investigate prevailing winds, waves, turbulence, atmospheric stability and various meso scale phenomena. Typical MST radar antenna arrays consists of 1024 antenna elements and are arranged into 32 sub arrays, with each sub array having 32 antenna elements. Each sub array is fed from a single transmitter with totally 32 transmitters sourcing the full array. The total average power of the transmitter would be approximately 60 kW at 53 MHz with a maximum duty ratio of 2.5 %. Each transmitter module has four RF amplifier stages - One solid-state amplifier, followed by the three stages of triode amplifiers namely pre-driver, driver, and HPA with total gain of nearly 8 1 dB is provided by the amplifier chain The control and interlock units are the key modules in the MST radar transmitter. The control unit allows user to operate and control the transmitter under various conditions. It ensures proper ON/OFF sequence for the transmitter to the "auto" as well as "manual" mode of operation and control. All the four amplifier stages in the transmitter use expensive devices, hence a comprehensive safety has to be provided to the transmitter to protect these devices against supply variations or failure, cooling failure, temperature development etc. The interlock unit monitors the healthy/faulty status of the concern transmitter parameters and automatically locks the failed process. Hence the paper deals with the hardware

and software features of CPLD based control interlocking system for MST radar transmitter. 1. Hardware Features The hardware of the CPLD based control and interlocking system for Indian MST radar transmitter consists of two major sections as a) User operated Keypad b) Interlock Unit c) CPLD Unit and d) Relay driver Unit. The block diagram of the system is as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig1: Block diagram of MST radar

1.1. User operated Keypad The user operated keyboard consists of 12 switches through which user can control the operation of the transmitter. All the switches are arranged in a single row and interfaced to the CPLD device. The CPLD device registers the status of the keys and the same displays on the corresponding indicators. The keypad consists of RC elements, to achieve the external key denounce. The use of RC circuit avoids the crystals or other clock circuits causing the interference in the other units. 1.2. Interlock Unit Interlock unit monitors healthy condition of the internal units of the transmitter and the status will be displayed on the corresponding indicators. The analog voltage levels of the internal units are compared with the predefined reference values to define healthy state of their units. The interlock unit consists of twelve analog input comparators and these comparators are interfaced to the CPLD. The circuit schematic details of the interlock unit and its interface with the CPLD are shown in Fig. 2. 1.3. CPLD Unit The conventional digital hardware, performing the functionalities of control and interlocking units is incorporated in the CPLD device [3]. The function of the XC 9572C10pc84 CPLD is to register the user entrees through the keypad, to monitor the safety/healthy condition of the internal units of the transmitter and to produce control actions based on the user desired entrees and interlock conditions. The user keypad has been interfaced to the CPLD through Schmitt buffers and its status indicators are interfaced through the buffers. Besides keypad, the interlock comparators are interfaced to the CPLD and their status is displayed on the indicators through the buffers. The digital control actions evaluated by the CPLD are fed to the relay driver unit. The circuit schematic of the CPLD and its interface mechanism are shown in Fig. 2. It illustrates the flow of signals and the logic representation. JTAG interface circuit provides the on-board programming feature

to modify the sequence of operations or digital hardware at any instant of time. Fig. 3 gives the photographic view of the CPLD board designed for the purpose. 1.4. Relay Driver Unit The control actions evaluated by the CPLD directly cannot drive the high power relays of the functional units. Hence a driver circuit has been incorporated between the CPLD and high power unit. The driver unit consists of eight +12 V dc operated electromechanical relays to turn ON/OFF the corresponding high power relays. The circuit schematic details of the relay driver circuit are also shown in Fig. 2. 2. Software Features The control and interlocking functionalities have been realized with the suitable software targeted to a Xilinx's XC9572C10pc84 CPLD device. The necessary program code has been written in Verilog hardware descriptive language. Hardware descriptive language offers greater readability, flexibility to change the logic, function of the hardware at any instant of time [4-5]. The following sections furnish the CPLD reports and development of program code on the Xilinx platform. 3. Working of the System When the system is powered-up, all the modules are get initialized and the process is ready to operate either manually or automatically. The manual or auto operation is selected through the MAN/AUTO key available on the front panel. Before the operation, make sure that the transmitter is ON using TX ON/OFF key. In the auto mode of operation, all the heaters and HTs are powered-up automatically and the RF control is given on STNBY key. This key is used to bring the process to standby/active state only under the auto operation. In manual mode of operation, it is essential that all the heaters and HTs be operated individually. These manual/auto operations are processed with the interlock parameters to evaluate the control actions. Interlock unit monitors the healthy condition of the heater currents, anode voltages, airflow etc. Fault status of any parameter automatically locks the concerned process and the RF transmission. During troubleshoot in the interlock section the interlock conditions get bypassed and CPLD evaluates

control actions only based on the user choice. During troubleshoot in the CPLD board all the relays permanently get energized in the relay driver board to continue the process. Wind information from MST Radar There are two basic techniques to extract the vector wind information from the MST Radar returns. They are (1) Doppler beam swinging method (DBS) and (2) Spaced antenna drift (SAD) method. (1) DBS method In this technique a narrow beam pointed in vertical and off vertical directions measure the Doppler shift of echo scattered from refractive index irregularities. A beam in the zenith direction and at least two more off vertical in orthogonal directions are used to measure the radial velocities in each beam position. Estimation of vertical and horizontal velocities is done from the radar return through signal processing. The DBS method uses a narrow beam at an angle e and measures the Doppler shift, which is a measure of the radial velocity. For a preset condition of Doppler resolution and maximum Doppler shift, the percentage error in velocity determination decreases with increasing velocity. (2) SAD method This method uses three or more spaced antennas and the received signals are cross-correlated to determine the horizontal velocity components. In this method the transmitter beam is pointed vertically while the signal is received at three (or more) spaced antennas (receivers) and the horizontal velocity is obtained from the time delays as the signal pattern drifts past the spaced antennas. The vertical velocity can be determined either from the phase information or from the Doppler shift.

18

energy returned over a range of angles around zenith and measures the movement of the amplitude pattern over the ground which moves at velocity twice that of the scatters. Apparently it appears that the two techniques are different but they are closely related and the difference is only in the experimental sense. The DBS method uses a narrow beam at an angle e and measures the Doppler shift, which is a measure of the radial velocity. The SAD method on the other hand receives.

BRIEF OPERATION OF MST RADAR:

The MST Radar has an array of 1024 (32 x 32) crossed three-element Yagi-Uda antennas and 32 units of high power transmitters, each unit feeding one subarray of 32 Yagis. It covers an area of 130 m x 130 m arranged in the form of a 32 x 32 matrix. The radar operates under instruction from a radar controller, which executes an experiment specification file (ESF). The on-line data processing carries out the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and incoherent integration of the Doppler spectra. The off-line data processing involves the estimation of three low order spectral moments which provides total signal power, radial wind velocity and its spread for each range bin. For obtaining the three moments the spectral signature of the received back scatter signal for various range bins is tracked using an adaptive algorithm which takes into account the SNR., Doppler range of the signal and the maximum vertical shear of the horizontal wind.

The Indian MST Radar makes use of the Doppler Beam Swinging (DBS) Technique for measuring wind field. This method for measuring the three components of the wind vector requires spectral measurements at a minimum of three non-coplanar beam positions. The radar uses normally five beams to determine the wind components in a least square sense as described by Sato
(1989).

The radar beam can be positioned at any look angle but is currently programmed to sequence automatical1y any combination of the following seven look angles. - Zenith in X polarization - Zenith in Y polarization
- 200

off zenith in North, South, East, West

- 14.8 due north to look transverse to the magnetic field for ionospheric studies Considering the uses of such a radar for upper atmospheric and ionospheric research and with out prejudice to the measurement for neutral atmospheric studies, the array is aligned along the geomagnetic meridian to enable the radar beam to be transverse to the Earth's magnetic field. After careful calculations using geomagnetic models, the antenna is oriented 2 due west with reference to the geographic meridian. The MST mode radar with full aperture and 32 transmitters generating a peak power of 2.5 MW was established in March,
1993.

SIGNAL GENERATION FOR MODESELECTION AND INTERFACING OF 30 MHz HF- RADAR

CHAPTER-4 HARDWARE TOOLS FOR SIGNAL GENERATION

MICROCONTROLLERS
Microcontrollers producers have been struggling for a long time for attracting more and more choosy customers. Every couple of days a new chip with a higher operating frequency, more memory and more high-quality A/D converters comes on the market. Nevertheless, by analyzing their structure it is concluded that most of them have the same (or at least very similar) architecture known in the product catalogs as 8051 compatible.

Microcontroller (P89V51RD2):
The P89V51RD2 is an 80C51 microcontroller with 64 kB Flash and 1024 bytes of data RAM.A key feature of the P89V51RD2 is its X2 mode option. The design engineer can choose to run the application with the conventional 80C51 clock rate (12 clocks per machine cycle) or select the X2 mode (6 clocks per machine cycle) to achieve twice the throughput at the same clock frequency. Another way to benefit from this feature is to keep the same performance by reducing the clock frequency by half, thus dramatically reducing the EMI. The Flash program memory supports both parallel programming and in serial InSystem Programming (ISP). Parallel programming mode offers gang-programming at high speed, reducing programming costs and time to market. ISP allows a device to be reprogrammed in the end product under software control. The capability to field/update the application firmware makes a wide range of applications possible. The P89V51RD2 is also In-Application Programmable (IAP), allowing the Flash program memory to be reconfigured even while the application is running

FEATURES: 80C51 Central Processing Unit 5 V Operating voltage from 0 to 40 MHz 64 kB of on-chip Flash program memory with ISP (In-System Programming) and IAP (In-Application Programming)

 Supports 12-clock (default) or 6-clock mode selection via software or ISP SPI (Serial Peripheral Interface) and enhanced UART PCA (Programmable Counter Array) with PWM and

Capture/Compare functions Four 8-bit I/O ports with three high-current Port 1 pins (16 mA each) Three 16-bit timers/counters Programmable Watchdog timer (WDT) Eight interrupt sources with four priority levels Second DPTR register Low EMI mode (ALE inhibit) Brown-out detection Low power modes Power-down mode with external interrupt wake-up Idle mode PDIP40, PLCC44 and TQFP44 packages BLOCK DIAGRAM: The block diagram shows the internal components structure with the signal functioning.

1 Memory organization
The device has separate address spaces for program and data me mory. 7.1.1 Flash program memory There are two internal ash memory blocks in the device. Block 0 h as 64 kbytes and contains the users code. Block 1 contains the Philipsprovided ISP/IAP routines and may be enabled such that it overlays the rst 8 kbytes of the user c ode memory. The 64 kB Block 0 is organized as 512 sectors, each sector consis ts of 128 bytes. Access to the IAP routines may be enabled by clearing the BSEL bi t in the FCF register. However, caution must be taken when dynamically chang ing the BSEL bit. Since this will cause different physical memory to be mapped to the logical program address space, the user must avoid clearing the BSEL bit when ex ecuting user code

within the address range 0000H to 1FFFH. 7.1.2 Data RAM memory The data RAM has 1024 bytes of internal memory. The device can also address up to 64 kB for external data memory. 7.1.3 Expanded data RAM addressing The P89V51RD2 has 1 kB of RAM. See Figure 5 Internal and exte rnal data memory structure. on page 17. The device has four sections of internal data memory: 1. The lower 128 bytes of RAM (00H to 7FH) are directly and indi rectly addressable. 2. The higher 128 bytes of RAM (80H to FFH) are indirectly addr essable. 3. The special function registers (80H to FFH) are directly addres sable only. 4. The expanded RAM of 768 bytes (00H to 2FFH) is indirectly ad dressable by the move external instruction (MOVX) and clearing the EXTRAM b it. (See Auxiliary Register (AUXR) in Section 6 Special function registers on p age 10) Since the upper 128 bytes occupy the same addresses as the SF Rs, the RAM must be accessed indirectly. The RAM and SFRs space are physically s eparate even though they have the same addresses.

RS232: In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards

for serial binarysingle-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE (Data Terminal Equipment) and a DCE (Data Circuit-terminating Equipment). It is commonly used in computer serial ports. The standard defines the electrical characteristics and timing of signals, the meaning of signals, and the physical size and pin out of connectors. The current version of the standard is TIA-232-F Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment Employing Serial Binary Data Interchange, issued in 1997. An RS-232 port was once a standard feature of a personal computer for connections to modems, printers, mice, data storage, un-interruptible power supplies, and other peripheral devices. However, the limited transmission speed, relatively large voltage swing, and large standard connectors motivated development of the universal serial bus which has displaced RS-232 from most of its peripheral interface roles. Many modern personal computers have no RS-232 ports and must use an external converter to connect to older peripherals. Some RS-232 devices are still found especially in industrial machines or scientific instruments.

Development tools
When developing or troubleshooting systems using RS-232, close examination of hardware signals can be important to find problems. Aserial line analyzer is a device similar to a logic analyzer but specialized for RS-232's voltage levels, connectors, and, where used, clock signals. The serial line analyzer can collect, store, and display the data and control signals, allowing developers to view them in detail. Some simply display the signals as waveforms; more elaborate versions include the ability to decode characters in ASCII or other common codes and to interpret common protocols used over RS-232 such as SDLC, HDLC, DDCMP, and X.25. Serial line analyzers are available as standalone units, as software and interface cables for general-purpose logic analyzers, and as programs that run in common personal computers. Applications and limitations

Because the application of RS-232 has extended far beyond the original purpose of interconnecting a terminal with a modem, successor standards have been developed to address the limitations. Issues with the RS-232 standard include:[4]

The large voltage swings and requirement for positive and negative supplies increases power consumption of the interface and complicates power supply design. The voltage swing requirement also limits the upper speed of a compatible interface. Single-ended signaling referred to a common signal ground limits the noise immunity and transmission distance. Multi-drop connection among more than two devices is not defined. While multi-drop "work-arounds" have been devised, they have limitations in speed and compatibility. Asymmetrical definitions of the two ends of the link make the assignment of the role of a newly developed device problematic; the designer must decide on either a DTE-like or DCE-like interface and which connector pin assignments to use. The handshaking and control lines of the interface are intended for the setup and takedown of a dial-up communication circuit; in particular, the use of handshake lines for flow control is not reliably implemented in many devices. No method is specified for sending power to a device. While a small amount of current can be extracted from the DTR and RTS lines, this is only suitable for low power devices such as mice. The 25-way connector recommended in the standard is large compared to current practice.

CHAPTER-5 SOFTWARE TOOLS FOR SIGNAL GENERATION

OUTCOME OF EMBEDDED SYSTEM