Coherent Radar Project

National Atmospheric Research Laboratory has taken up CRI/SDI project, which will enhance the capabilities of the present MST radar by many folds. The existing MST radar, with a 32x32 antenna phased array and a single back-end receiver, was originally configured for Doppler Beam Swinging (DBS) mode. A brief description of the ongoing project is given below.

Transmitting System

The existing antenna array will be modified to obtain a broad beam with 10o width for the purpose transmission. The central 16x32 part of the array will be phase coded in a similar fashion to that introduced for Jicamarca radar, Peru. A peak power of 900 kW will be available when the array is phase coded. Provision will be made to retain the basic narrow beam, with 3o width and a peak power of 2500 kw for normal DBS mode of operation).

Receiving System

The receive antenna consists of 21 modules, each one being a small hexagonal array of 19 Yagi elements. Each antenna module will have a beam width of about 18o and connected to a dedicated receiver and data acquisition system. The receive array configuration is conceived keeping in mind the requirements for probing various regions of atmosphere, that is, ionosphere, Mesosphere, Stratosphere, Troposphere and boundary layer region. The configuration supports to carry out experiments in SA, SDI, IDI, TDI, PBS, and Imaging modes. The smallest and the longest base line lengths available are 8m and 270m respectively. The RF front-end units will be placed in an enclosure located in the antenna field.