Radar Systems Performance Modeling (Artech House Radar Library)

Radars play a vital and ever expanding role as integral parts of complex air-traffic control, ballistic missile defense, air defense, and targeting systems for land attack. This ground-breaking work helps you evaluate their performance in system tasks, and quantify the impact of radar operation on system performance.

This book provides systems-level radar modeling tools for both the analyst and programmer, and furnishes insight on how to use the models in system analysis. It is the first resource to present and explain equations, computation methods and data for modeling radar operation and performance at the system level. It is indispensable for military or air traffic system analysts and programmers and modelers for systems employing radars, and a learning tool for junior level radar engineers as well.

The book focuses on ground-based pulsed monostatic radars, including phased array, reflector, dish, and hybird configurations. Also discussed are ground, air, and space-based radars, and analysis tools are presented to help you analyze these radar types. The concise presentation of material makes radar models easy to locate and use, and extensive references are included. Written with clarity and precision, the book is accessible to engineers and programmers with general backgrounds - no specialized radar engineering or advanced mathematics is required.

Whether you¹re a programmer, mathematician, modeler for systems employing radars, or analyst seeking methods to represent radars at various levels of fidelity, the book will enable you to:

o Understand basic radar design, parameters, and operating principles, and the differences in various radar configurations

o Select waveform types for various applications, and determine key waveform parameters

o Calculate radar signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and radar range

o Evaluate radar detection parameters

o Define radar search modes and quantify radar performance

o Quantify radar measurement and tracking performance

o Evaluate the impact of environmental conditions and countermeasures on radar performance, and determine the effects of mitigation techniques

Software Included! One 3.5" diskette featuring Visual Basic modules and equations that can be used for calculating many of the parameters and performance measures discussed in the book. These can be used for radar analysis in Excel spreadsheets, or form the basis for program modules. System Requirements: Windows 95 or Windows NT or later; Microsoft Excel 97 or later.

Contents:

Introduction: How To Use This Book. Concept of Radar Operation. Radar Applications And Functions: Search, Tracking, Measurement. Functional Models. VBA Software Functions.

Radar Configurations: Basing: Ground, Air, Space. Frequency Bands, Antennas: Dish, Reflector, Phased Array, Hybrid. Waveforms: Pulsed, CW, pulse compression. Processing: MTI, Pulse Doppler, SAR. Monostatic and Bistatic.

Radar Analysis Parameters: Transmitter: Peak And Average Power, Duty Cycle, Pulse Energy. Antenna: Gain, Aperture Area, Beamwidth, Sidelobes, RF And Beamshape Losses. Receiver/Processor: Internal And External Noise, RF And Processing Losses. Phased Array Antennas: Field-Of-View, Scan Loss, Scan Limits. Target RCS And Fluctuation Models.

Radar Waveforms: Waveform Characteristics: Range And Doppler Resolution, Ambiguities. CW Pulse. Pulse Compression: Chirp, Phase Reversal. Pulse Bursts. Multiple-Time Around Returns.

Radar Equation: Basic Radar Equation, Range, S/N. Parameter Definition For Radar Equation. Concept Of Using Reference Range. Pulse Integration: Coherent, Noncoherent (Loss). Minimum Range Constraint. VBA Software Functions For Radar Equation.

Radar Detection: Detection Concept, PD, PFA. Detection Calculation Techniques. Plots of Detection Probability. Pulse Integration: Coherent, Noncoherent. Cumulative Detection. VBA Software Functions For Radar Detection.

Radar Search Modes: Volume Search. Horizon Search. Cued Search. Phased Arrays, Rotating Reflectors, Dish Radars. VBA Software Modules Of Radar Search Modes.

Measurement And Tracking: Range Measurement Accuracy. Angle Measurement Accuracy. Radial Velocity Measurement Accuracy. Measurement of Target Features, Data Smoothing And Tracking. Trajectory Prediction. Multiple-Target Issues. VBA Software Functions For Measurement And Tracking.

Environment And Mitigation Techniques: Clutter: Ground, Volume. MTI Concept, Operation And Performance. Multipath Effects. Rain Attenuation. Atmospheric Attenuation, Refraction. Ionospheric Attenuation, Refraction. VBA Software Functions For Environment And Mitigation Techniques.

Radar Countermeasures and Counter-Countermeasures: Jammer Characteristics: Deception, Spot, Noise, Mainlobe, Sidelobe. Radar Burnthrough Range: Mainlobe, Sidelobe Jammers. Spot and Volume Chaff. Replica and Traffic Decoys. VBA Software Modules Of Radar Counermeasures and Counter-Countermeasures.

Radar Modeling Examples: Using Models Together To Solve Practical Radar Problems. Solutions Using Equations And Tools In Text. Solutions Using Excel With VBA Software Functions.

Appendices: List Of Symbols. Glossary. Listing Of VBA Software Functions. Installation, Use. Unit Conversions.

G. Richard Curry is a consultant in radar systems applications and analysis. His career has included positions at SAIC, GRC, Raytheon Company, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the U.S. Navy. He received his B.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics at the University of Michigan, and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.