Performance Analysis of Monopulse Receivers for Secondary Surveillance Radar

In modern secondary surveillance radar (SSR) the monopulse technique is currently introduced for the measurement of the azimuth of the targets. The monopulse technique is based on a suitable processing of signals received by a multiple antenna. In SSR the signals are generated by a transponder on the aircraft as replies to interrogations from ground equipment, and consist of trains of pulses. The monopulse measurements can be carried out on the basis of a single pulse from each train, so that it provides a great number of azimuth estimates. Many monopulse measurement devices exist, corresponding to different processing techniques. From the point of view of accuracy and precision, their behaviors differ with respect to the sources of errors, both internal (noise and imperfect calibrations) and external (interference and propagation effects). The four main types of monopulse receivers are analyzed here with respect to the effects of the internal error sources on the resulting measurement accuracy. After an introductory discussion of the performances of the receivers, a detailed analysis is carried out on the basis of a general mathematical model. The results are given in an analytical form and in some comprehensive diagrams.