HF Surface Wave Radars

ISR is currently developing a low cost, compact HF Phase Array Radar to measure directional wave spectra along a single radial line offshore, without requiring beam steering. ISR is being funded for this work as a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management / NOAA NOPP project participant. The goal is to derive significant wave height, primary wave and swell direction, and directional ocean wave spectra when possible, as a function of distance offshore. The system is designed to provide an alternative to directional buoys, which are expensive to maintain and tend to break from moorings, requiring expensive ship time to retrieve and reinstall. The target price range for the new radar is $25-$30K-US. Please keep tuned to "What's Happening Now" for updates.

Phased Array

ISR_PA_N series, where N specifies the number of elements in the receive array

Transmit Antenna 2-element Monopole array
Receive Antenna Beam Forming Array of 8 elements
Receive Element Single Frequency System: Reduced-size Loop
Radar Receiver ISR Octopus
Radar Pre-Amp Box ISR PAF_8

Direction-of-Arrival

ISR_DOA_M is a monostatic model, which typically has 4 elements and is designed for space-limited applications where large receive arrays could not be deployed.

Transmit Antenna 4-element Monopole array with sidelobe control and landward null
Receive Antenna Beam Forming Array of 4 elements
Receive Element Single Frequency System: Resonant Monopole
Radar Receiver ISR Quadrapus
Radar Pre-Amp Filter Box ISR PAF_4 – four channel pre-amp, configurable with up to 8 narrow band or broad band filters for each channel if multi-frequency option is desired.
Multi-Frequency Option Wide band transmit antenna, Loop receive antennas for 3-30 MHz range

 

Bistatic DOA

ISR_DOA_B model is a 2 or 3 site bistatic radar where all signal reception and processing is done at the master site, with remote sites used for transmission only. Unambiguous target tracks and vector velocities are determined at the master site, using echoes received using the master monostatic transmission and one or two bistatic signal echoes from the remote sites. Control of the remote sites is achieved using radio networking protocol and remote PC control.

Transmit Antenna 4-element Monopole array with sidelobe control and landward null
Receive Antenna Beam Forming Array of 4 elements
Receive Element Single Frequency System: Resonant Monopole
Radar Receiver ISR Quadrapus
Radar Pre-Amp Filter Box ISR PAF_4 – four channel pre-amp, configurable with up to 8 narrow band or broad band filters for each channel if multi-frequency option is desired.
Multi-Frequency Option Wide band transmit antenna, Loop receive antennas for 3-30 MHz range

System Layout

ISR Sensing Radar Networks

Radar Networks:

Each of the above models can be configured to operate as part of a multi-static network of radars, as each card has access to Universal Time on board using a GPS receiver as part of the basic system. (Both Differential GPS and WAAS capabilities are available as added options, primarily for other mobile radar applications.) Under this networked approach, each radar operates within its own time slot. Thus, a two-sited Phased Array radar would operate using alternate pulse time slots, so as to allow interleaved operation using the same radar frequency. (Planned options include using such a pair to receive each other bistatic signal echoes as well, thus mixing monostatic and bistatic operations at both sites. This is useful for target classification and current shear measure, as is described elsewhere on this web site.)

Each model also can be configured with a multi-frequency option, requiring loop receive antennas and a multi-frequency transmit antenna. We can also configure a system to your requirements as desired. We also offer a Rubidium clock option, which offers extremely low phase noise, important for high dynamic range applications, such as sea state monitoring using 2nd-order Doppler echoes or for target detection, classification and tracking.