Conopulse Radar

The methods usually adopted for implementing an angle-tracking radar are monopulse and conical scan. A monopulse system is free from target-signal amplitude-fluctuation effects, in principle, but usually requires three channels of receiver equipment. A conical scan system, on the other hand, requires only a one-channel ceiver, but is subject to target-signal amplitude-fluctuation effects. This paper describes and analyzes a hybrid system called conopulse that requires only two receiver channels and is free of target-signal amplitude-fluctuation effects. Part of the signal processing in a conopulse system uses conical scan techniques and part uses monopulse methods. The principal advantages of conopulse are that it has the monopulse freedom from angle errors caused by target fluctuations and that it requires less receiver equipment than monopulse to achieve this freedom. Its main disadvantages are its lower data rate and the practical problems associated with the required antenna feed, which is somewhat similar to but more complicated than conical scan.