Basic HF Radar
for Current Mapping
Basic HF Radar
for Current Mapping
About the Company
Basic HF Radar
for Current Mapping
At a SeaSonde HF radar station there is one transmitting antenna and one receiving antenna unit. The antennas are connected to the radar transmit chassis and receive chassis, which are controlled by a small desktop computer.
The transmitting antenna is omni-directional, meaning that it radiates a signal in all directions. The receive antenna unit consists of three colocated antennas, oriented with respect to each other on the x, y, and z-axes (like the sensors on a pitch and roll buoy). It is able to receive and separate returning signals in all 360 degrees.
For mapping currents, the radar needs to determine three pieces of information:
1. Bearing of the scattering source (which we’ll refer to as ‘Target’),
2. Range of the Target, and
3. Speed of the Target
To determine bearing, range and speed of the Target, a time series of the received sea echo is processed.
The first determination is Range to target.
The distance to the patch of scatterers in any radar depends on the time delay of the scattered signal after transmission. The SeaSonde employs a unique, patented method of determining the range from this time delay. By modulating the transmitted signal with a swept-frequency signal and demodulating it properly in the receiver, the time delay is converted to a large-scale frequency shift in the echo signal. Therefore, the first digital spectral analysis of the signal extracts the range or distance to the sea-surface scatterers, and sorts it into range ‘bins’ (typically set to 32 bins, but capable up to 64 bins). In HF versions of the SeaSonde, these bins are typically set between 1 and 12 km in width. In the VHF version of the SeaSonde, these bins are typically set between 300 m and 1.5 km.
The second determination is Speed from Doppler of the target.
Information about the velocity of the scattering ocean waves (which includes speed contributions due to both current and wave motions) is obtained by a second spectral processing of the signals from each range bin, giving the Doppler-frequency shifts due to these motions. The length of the time series used for this spectral processing dictates the velocity resolution; at 12 MHz for a 256-second time-series sample, this corresponds to a velocity resolution ~4cm / s. (The velocity accuracy is a separate quantity; it can be better or worse than this depending on environmental factors.) The SeaSonde or any radar can measure only the velocity component from Doppler ‘radial’ to the radar from the target on the ocean, meaning that component pointing toward or away from the radar.
The third determination is the Bearing of the target.
After the range to scatterers and their radial speeds have been determined by the two spectral processing steps outlined above, the final step involves extraction of the bearing angle to the patch of scatterers. This is done for the echo at each spectral point (range and speed) by using simultaneous data collected from the three colocated directional receive antennas. The complex voltages from these three antennas are put through a ‘direction-finding’ (DF)algorithm to get the bearing. The particular, patented algorithm adapted and perfected for the SeaSonde is referred to as MUSIC. At the end of these three signal-processing algorithms, surface-current radial speed maps are available in polar coordinates. That is, the radial speeds on the ocean are specified vs range and bearing about the origin, which is the radar site.
Radial data is produced at interfals varying between 18 minutes for the low-frequency systems to 4 minutes at the upper frequencies. These data are then averaged over a user-selected time period (typically an hour), to create a radial vector map at the radar station. A computer called the central data combining station, located at the users office, connects to the radar station computer at user-selectable time intervals, and retrieves the radial vector map data files.
From radial speed map to total surface current velocity vector map.
Radial speed maps from each radar site alone are not a complete depiction of the surface current flow, which is two-dimensional. This is why at least two radars are normally used to construct a total vector from each site’s radial components. At the central data combining station, the radial vector maps from multiple radar stations are merged to create a total velocity vector current map.
The central data combining station does more than combine radial vector maps to create total vector maps. It archives current, wave, and diagnostics data on disk, both internal and external. In some cases, it creates JPEG or GIF files of outputs for real-time internet transfer to the user’s website. It can display wave data if that is being collected. Finally, it can be used as a base to connect to the remote radar sites and direct their operations as well as install or retrieve special files, as though the operator were standing in front of the remote station monitor itself.
At a SeaSonde HF radar station there is one transmitting antenna and one receiving antenna unit. The antennas are connected to the radar transmit chassis and receive chassis, which are controlled by a small desktop computer.
The transmitting antenna is omni-directional, meaning that it radiates a signal in all directions. The receive antenna unit consists of three colocated antennas, oriented with respect to each other on the x, y, and z-axes (like the sensors on a pitch and roll buoy). It is able to receive and separate returning signals in all 360 degrees.
For mapping currents, the radar needs to determine three pieces of information:
1. Bearing of the scattering source (which we’ll refer to as ‘Target’),
2. Range of the Target, and
3. Speed of the Target
To determine bearing, range and speed of the Target, a time series of the received sea echo is processed.
The first determination is Range to target.
The distance to the patch of scatterers in any radar depends on the time delay of the scattered signal after transmission. The SeaSonde employs a unique, patented method of determining the range from this time delay. By modulating the transmitted signal with a swept-frequency signal and demodulating it properly in the receiver, the time delay is converted to a large-scale frequency shift in the echo signal. Therefore, the first digital spectral analysis of the signal extracts the range or distance to the sea-surface scatterers, and sorts it into range ‘bins’ (typically set to 32 bins, but capable up to 64 bins). In HF versions of the SeaSonde, these bins are typically set between 1 and 12 km in width. In the VHF version of the SeaSonde, these bins are typically set between 300 m and 1.5 km.
The second determination is Speed from Doppler of the target.
Information about the velocity of the scattering ocean waves (which includes speed contributions due to both current and wave motions) is obtained by a second spectral processing of the signals from each range bin, giving the Doppler-frequency shifts due to these motions. The length of the time series used for this spectral processing dictates the velocity resolution; at 12 MHz for a 256-second time-series sample, this corresponds to a velocity resolution ~4cm / s. (The velocity accuracy is a separate quantity; it can be better or worse than this depending on environmental factors.) The SeaSonde or any radar can measure only the velocity component from Doppler ‘radial’ to the radar from the target on the ocean, meaning that component pointing toward or away from the radar.
The third determination is the Bearing of the target.
After the range to scatterers and their radial speeds have been determined by the two spectral processing steps outlined above, the final step involves extraction of the bearing angle to the patch of scatterers. This is done for the echo at each spectral point (range and speed) by using simultaneous data collected from the three colocated directional receive antennas. The complex voltages from these three antennas are put through a ‘direction-finding’ (DF)algorithm to get the bearing. The particular, patented algorithm adapted and perfected for the SeaSonde is referred to as MUSIC. At the end of these three signal-processing algorithms, surface-current radial speed maps are available in polar coordinates. That is, the radial speeds on the ocean are specified vs range and bearing about the origin, which is the radar site.
Radial data is produced at interfals varying between 18 minutes for the low-frequency systems to 4 minutes at the upper frequencies. These data are then averaged over a user-selected time period (typically an hour), to create a radial vector map at the radar station. A computer called the central data combining station, located at the users office, connects to the radar station computer at user-selectable time intervals, and retrieves the radial vector map data files.
From radial speed map to total surface current velocity vector map.
Radial speed maps from each radar site alone are not a complete depiction of the surface current flow, which is two-dimensional. This is why at least two radars are normally used to construct a total vector from each site’s radial components. At the central data combining station, the radial vector maps from multiple radar stations are merged to create a total velocity vector current map.
The central data combining station does more than combine radial vector maps to create total vector maps. It archives current, wave, and diagnostics data on disk, both internal and external. In some cases, it creates JPEG or GIF files of outputs for real-time internet transfer to the user’s website. It can display wave data if that is being collected. Finally, it can be used as a base to connect to the remote radar sites and direct their operations as well as install or retrieve special files, as though the operator were standing in front of the remote station monitor itself.
At a SeaSonde HF radar station there is one transmitting antenna and one receiving antenna unit. The antennas are connected to the radar transmit chassis and receive chassis, which are controlled by a small desktop computer.
The transmitting antenna is omni-directional, meaning that it radiates a signal in all directions. The receive antenna unit consists of three colocated antennas, oriented with respect to each other on the x, y, and z-axes (like the sensors on a pitch and roll buoy). It is able to receive and separate returning signals in all 360 degrees.
For mapping currents, the radar needs to determine three pieces of information:
1. Bearing of the scattering source (which we’ll refer to as ‘Target’),
2. Range of the Target, and
3. Speed of the Target
To determine bearing, range and speed of the Target, a time series of the received sea echo is processed.
The first determination is Range to target.
The distance to the patch of scatterers in any radar depends on the time delay of the scattered signal after transmission. The SeaSonde employs a unique, patented method of determining the range from this time delay. By modulating the transmitted signal with a swept-frequency signal and demodulating it properly in the receiver, the time delay is converted to a large-scale frequency shift in the echo signal. Therefore, the first digital spectral analysis of the signal extracts the range or distance to the sea-surface scatterers, and sorts it into range ‘bins’ (typically set to 32 bins, but capable up to 64 bins). In HF versions of the SeaSonde, these bins are typically set between 1 and 12 km in width. In the VHF version of the SeaSonde, these bins are typically set between 300 m and 1.5 km.
The second determination is Speed from Doppler of the target.
Information about the velocity of the scattering ocean waves (which includes speed contributions due to both current and wave motions) is obtained by a second spectral processing of the signals from each range bin, giving the Doppler-frequency shifts due to these motions. The length of the time series used for this spectral processing dictates the velocity resolution; at 12 MHz for a 256-second time-series sample, this corresponds to a velocity resolution ~4cm / s. (The velocity accuracy is a separate quantity; it can be better or worse than this depending on environmental factors.) The SeaSonde or any radar can measure only the velocity component from Doppler ‘radial’ to the radar from the target on the ocean, meaning that component pointing toward or away from the radar.
The third determination is the Bearing of the target.
After the range to scatterers and their radial speeds have been determined by the two spectral processing steps outlined above, the final step involves extraction of the bearing angle to the patch of scatterers. This is done for the echo at each spectral point (range and speed) by using simultaneous data collected from the three colocated directional receive antennas. The complex voltages from these three antennas are put through a ‘direction-finding’ (DF)algorithm to get the bearing. The particular, patented algorithm adapted and perfected for the SeaSonde is referred to as MUSIC. At the end of these three signal-processing algorithms, surface-current radial speed maps are available in polar coordinates. That is, the radial speeds on the ocean are specified vs range and bearing about the origin, which is the radar site.
Radial data is produced at interfals varying between 18 minutes for the low-frequency systems to 4 minutes at the upper frequencies. These data are then averaged over a user-selected time period (typically an hour), to create a radial vector map at the radar station. A computer called the central data combining station, located at the users office, connects to the radar station computer at user-selectable time intervals, and retrieves the radial vector map data files.
From radial speed map to total surface current velocity vector map.
Radial speed maps from each radar site alone are not a complete depiction of the surface current flow, which is two-dimensional. This is why at least two radars are normally used to construct a total vector from each site’s radial components. At the central data combining station, the radial vector maps from multiple radar stations are merged to create a total velocity vector current map.
The central data combining station does more than combine radial vector maps to create total vector maps. It archives current, wave, and diagnostics data on disk, both internal and external. In some cases, it creates JPEG or GIF files of outputs for real-time internet transfer to the user’s website. It can display wave data if that is being collected. Finally, it can be used as a base to connect to the remote radar sites and direct their operations as well as install or retrieve special files, as though the operator were standing in front of the remote station monitor itself.
