How The Monopulse Comparator Has Improved Modern Radar Systems

By Elaine Guthrie


Fans of military technology may be quite familiar with radar technology. Individuals who enjoy air or marine travel have also benefited from this technology as well. Radar systems have changed quite a bit since the early days and one major change is the switch to a monopulse system. A monopulse comparator is a part of this system that has greatly increased the accuracy of modern systems. Here is what you need to know about these devices and how they have improved radar systems in general.

Although radar systems were initially used by the military to detect approaching aircraft and other potentially hostile objects these systems are being used in many other ways these days. Motorists are likely familiar with the guns used by police in order to detect speeding vehicles. The signal can bounce off of a vehicle and travel back to the gun in order to give the officer an idea of how quickly a particular car is traveling.

Anyone who has seen a weather forecast has taken advantage of the information that radar can give us. Meteorologists will use the information given to them by Doppler radar to track changes in weather systems. It can help alert us to the formation of storm fronts which may develop from thunderstorms to tornadoes or hurricanes.

When you are out at sea it can be difficult to determine your location when visibility is poor. Using a radar system will allow a ship to bounce signals off of known reference points. Marine buoys and the shoreline can both be used as reference points for a ship. The same system is also used to scan around the vessel to detect the presence of other vessels. This can help avoid collisions between two or more ships.

A radar system is made up of a transmitter, waveguide, duplexer, receiver and a display processor. The transmitter generates the radio frequency which will be used to detect objects. There is a waveguide that is used to connect the transmitter with an antenna that will send the radio frequency out into the environment. A duplexer is then used to switch the antenna from transmitting to receiving and the resulting signal is captured by the receiver and displayed on the display processor.

Jamming was an issue in the past but it is not as much of a problem with the modern monopulse systems that are being used. Because these systems rely on radio frequencies to detect objects, if a radio signal of the same frequency was directed at the radar system itself it tended to interfere with the signal and the system could not produce an accurate image. The monopulse system, because of the way it is set up, makes jamming much more difficult.

Splitting a beam of radio frequency into several portions really improves accuracy. This is because the different sections of the beam can be compared to find out if the result are accurate. A monopulse system can compare up to four different sections of frequency and the operator will get an excellent idea of what is out there and how it is moving.

There are several different types of these devices. The type that you choose will depend on exactly which kind of radar system you have set up. You can find comparators online although generally only on specialty websites that offer other radar equipment as well.




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