This second edition of Airborne Pulsed Doppler Radar brings you up-to-date on new radar technologies since 1987 -- plus those likely to appear in the next five years. The book provides valuable insight into specific issues unique to airborne systems and contains the most extensive treatment of the medium-PRF waveform for more accurate performance analysis. Complete with nearly 250 illustrations and 290 equations, the book provides the background you need to: - Plan and predict the outcome of test programs - Evaluate proposals for new radar systems or upgrades - Analyze the performance of airborne radars in various scenarios - Understand the capabilities and limitations of airborne systems This book is a valuable reference for radar engineers, missile-seeker system engineers, and users of military airborne radar. It keeps you current on the fundamental principles and system design rationale for establishing radar characteristics, signal processing for target detection performance, and signal processing for tracking and system testing.

The book is organized into three parts, each one building on the material of the previous sections. Part I (Chapters 1-8) covers the basic principles to lay sound foundations for the following parts of the book. It emphasizes classic processing techniques, especially the fast Fourier transform (FFT), and microwave engineering issues, antennas, and hardware. The second part of the book deals with the theory and techniques specific to pulse Doppler radar. This is subdivided into Part IIA (Chapters 9-10), which covers high PRF pulse Doppler, and Part IIB (Chapters 11-15), which covers medium PRF pulse Doppler. A major theme is that of PRF selection and optimization, other waveform design issues, and the problem of ghosting. While high and medium PRF pulse Doppler techniques have become synonymous with airborne fire control radars, they are used over a broad spectrum of airborne and surface-based radar applications. Part II does emphasize the airborne radar case, but it does not neglect the surface-based radar. Finally, Part III (Chapters 16-19) presents a series of four case studies. Each of these case studies applies the material of Part II whilst also highlighting additional radar techniques (and, in some cases, non-radar considerations) specific to the application. Such is the prevalence of pulse Doppler radars today; the number of case studies that could have been considered is well into double figures. However, the four presented here suffice to illustrate the wide variety of pulse Doppler radar applications.

An introduction to the subject for non-specialists: engineers, technicians, pilots, and aerospace industry marketing, public relations, and customer support personnel. Also a reference for specialists in the field. The completely rewritten and revised Second Edition updates the original published by the Hughes Aircraft Company.

Greatly expanded from the best-selling second edition by George W.Stimson, this book offers a complete overview of the major developments in air and spaceborne radar in line with advances in modern technology.

Presents the basic principles of pulse-doppler radar without resorting to a heavily mathematical treatment. High-, medium-, and low-pulse repetition frequency (PRF) modes are explained and the advantages and disadvantages of each are discussed. Also included are an explanation of the major signal-processing functions of doppler filtering, pulse compression, tracking, synthetic aperture, selection of medium PRFs, and resolving range ambiguities and a discussion of how to predict the performance of a pulse-doppler radar in the presence of noise and clutter. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Weather radar is a vital instrument for observing the atmosphere to help provide weather forecasts and issue weather warnings to the public. The current Next Generation Weather Radar (NEXRAD) system provides Doppler radar coverage to most regions of the United States (NRC, 1995). This network was designed in the mid 1980s and deployed in the 1990s as part of the National Weather Service (NWS) modernization (NRC, 1999). Since the initial design phase of the NEXRAD program, considerable advances have been made in radar technologies and in the use of weather radar for monitoring and prediction. The development of new technologies provides the motivation for appraising the status of the current weather radar system and identifying the most promising approaches for the development of its eventual replacement. The charge to the committee was to determine the state of knowledge regarding ground-based weather surveillance radar technology and identify the most promising approaches for the design of the replacement for the present Doppler Weather Radar. This report presents a first look at potential approaches for future upgrades to or replacements of the current weather radar system. The need, and schedule, for replacing the current system has not been established, but the committee used the briefings and deliberations to assess how the current system satisfies the current and emerging needs of the operational and research communities and identified potential system upgrades for providing improved weather forecasts and warnings. The time scale for any total replacement of the system (20- to 30-year time horizon) precluded detailed investigation of the designs and cost structures associated with any new weather radar system. The committee instead noted technologies that could provide improvements over the capabilities of the evolving NEXRAD system and recommends more detailed investigation and evaluation of several of these technologies. In the course of its deliberations, the committee developed a sense that the processes by which the eventual replacement radar system is developed and deployed could be as significant as the specific technologies adopted. Consequently, some of the committee's recommendations deal with such procedural issues.