How do radar systems calculate range?

Radar systems calculate range by timing the pulse echo. When a radar system transmits a pulse of radio waves, these waves travel through the environment until they hit an object and are reflected back to the radar receiver. The radar system measures the time it takes for the transmitted signal to return after reflecting off the target.

Since radar waves travel at the speed of light, the system uses the time delay to calculate the distance to the object. This is done by using the basic formula: distance = speed x time. The total time measured includes the time it takes for the pulse to travel to the target and back, so the system accounts for that by dividing the time by two to get the one-way distance.

This timing method is fundamental to radar operation and allows for accurate range measurement, which is critical for tracking and locating objects in various applications such as aviation, meteorology, and military operations. Other methods, like analyzing amplitude changes, detecting phase shifts, or measuring signal frequency, are used in different contexts within radar technology or for different functions but do not directly measure range in the same way timing the pulse echo does.