Lacomme P., Hardange J., Marchais J., Normant E. Air and Spaceborne Radar Systems: An Introduction

Translated from French. — William Andrew Publishing, 2001. — 504 p.For over half a century, radar has been a permanent feature of surveillance activities. Practically unaffected by meteorological conditions, it operates independently of sunlight, while its detection ranges and the angular domain it covers make it an essential tool for continuous surveillance of a very wide area. Over the last fifty years, radar operational capability and performance have continued to improve, and one can safely assume that this will hold true for the coming decades.This book, devoted to airborne and spaceborne radar, avoids a purely theoretical approach and is certainly not intended for an elite group of specialists. Rather, it is a practical tool that we hope will be of major help to technicians, student engineers, and engineers working in radar research and development. The many users of radar, as well as systems engineers and designers, should also find it of interest.Airborne and spaceborne radar systems, themselves highly complex systems, are fitted to mobile and often rapidly changing platforms that contain many other items of equipment. Radar can therefore not be considered as a separate entity. Its design must ensure its compatibility with the systems of which it forms a part, and with the dense electromagnetic environment to which it is often exposed. Naturally, and most importantly, it must also satisfy operating requirements.Radar technology evolves at a rapid pace and can quickly appear obsolete. For this reason it is only briefly developed in this work. However, we have taken the major trends into account when describing the next generation of radars, as their feasibility is largely dependent on these new developments.The book is divided into five parts:General Principles.
Target Detection and Tracking.
Ground Mapping and Imagery.
Principal Applications.
Radars of the Future.
Following a historical overview and a reminder of the main principles behind radar, the functions, modes, properties, and specific nature of modern airborne radar systems are studied in detail. Next, the book examines radar’s role within the mission system when carrying out missions assigned to the aircraft or the satellite. The fourth section covers the possibilities of radar as well as its limitations and constraints. Finally, given changing operational requirements and the potential opened up by technological development, the final section describes how radar may evolve in the future.Remark.
As airborne and spaceborne radars are often used in military applications, and in order to comply with security regulations, in this book we refrain from quoting existing systems or equipment that are either under development or in use. Explanations and examples are therefore based on the laws of physics (i.e. , information that is in the public domain) and on hypothetical equipment..