Filling a gap in the literature, this introduction to the topic covers the physics of the standard microwave diagnostics established on modern fusion experiments, and the necessary technological background from the field of microwave engineering. Written by well-known mm-wave diagnosticians in the field of fusion physics, the textbook includes such major diagnostic techniques as electron cyclotron emission, interferometry, reflectometry, polarimetry, and scattering.

Modern airborne and spaceborne imaging radars, known as synthetic aperture radars (SARs), are capable of producing high-quality pictures of the earth's surface while avoiding some of the shortcomings of certain other forms of remote imaging systems. Primarily, radar overcomes the nighttime limitations of optical cameras, and the cloud- cover limitations of both optical and infrared imagers. In addition, because imaging radars use a form of coherent illumination, they can be used in certain special modes such as interferometry, to produce some unique derivative image products that incoherent systems cannot. One such product is a highly accurate digital terrain elevation map (DTEM). The most recent (ca. 1980) version of imaging radar, known as spotlight-mode SAR, can produce imagery with spatial resolution that begins to approach that of remote optical imagers. For all of these reasons, synthetic aperture radar imaging is rapidly becoming a key technology in the world of modern remote sensing. Much of the basic `workings' of synthetic aperture radars is rooted in the concepts of signal processing. Starting with that premise, this book explores in depth the fundamental principles upon which the spotlight mode of SAR imaging is constructed, using almost exclusively the language, concepts, and major building blocks of signal processing. Spotlight-Mode Synthetic Aperture Radar: A Signal Processing Approach is intended for a variety of audiences. Engineers and scientists working in the field of remote sensing but who do not have experience with SAR imaging will find an easy entrance into what can seem at times a very complicated subject. Experienced radar engineers will find that the book describes several modern areas of SAR processing that they might not have explored previously, e.g. interferometric SAR for change detection and terrain elevation mapping, or modern non-parametric approaches to SAR autofocus. Senior undergraduates (primarily in electrical engineering) who have had courses in digital signal and image processing, but who have had no exposure to SAR could find the book useful in a one-semester course as a reference.

We are pleased to welcome readers to this issue of the Journal of Applied Operational Research (JAOR), Volume 7, Number 2. The journal reports on developments in all aspects of operational research, including the latest advances and applications. It is a primarily goal of the journal to focus on and publish practical case studies which illustrate real-life applications.

Image techniques have been developed and implemented for various purposes, and image engineering (IE) is a rapidly evolving, integrated discipline comprising the study of all the different branches of image techniques, and encompassing mathematics, physics, biology, physiology, psychology, electrical engineering, computer science and automation. Advances in the field are also closely related to the development of telecommunications, biomedical engineering, remote sensing, surveying and mapping, as well as document processing and industrial applications. IE involves three related and partially overlapping groups of image techniques: image processing (IP) (in its narrow sense), image analysis (IA) and image understanding (IU), and the integration of these three groups makes the discipline of image engineering an important part of the modern information era. This is the first handbook on image engineering, and provides a well-structured, comprehensive overview of this new discipline. It also offers detailed information on the various image techniques. It is a valuable reference resource for R&D professional and undergraduate students involved in image-related activities.

An important feature of computer generated holograms (CGHs) is to create wavefronts that may be defined only mathematically. Since A. W. Lohmann and his colleagues invented CGHs in 1966 for spatial filtering in image processing, the applications of CGHs have multiplied to include 3-D display, optical testing, diffractive/binary optics, bifocal intraocular lenses, wavefront transformations for material processing, pickup heads for optical disks, focal plane array detection, coherent laser addition, beam steering, and optical interconnects for parallel computing and neural computing. Today, the applications of CGHs continue to expand. This book features a selection of papers that examine different aspects of the development of CGHs from the 1960s through 1990, because there is no substitute for reading the original papers on any subject, even if that subject is mature enough to have many single-aspect monographs and textbooks. It is hoped that this selection of papers will be valuable additions to many working libraries on this expanding, expansive subject.