This three-day course provides students who already
have a basic understanding of radar a valuable extension
into the newer capabilities being continuously pursued in
our fast-moving field. While the course begins with a
quick review of fundamentals - this to establish a common
base for the instruction to follow - it is best suited for the
student who has taken one of the several basic radar
courses available.
In each topic, the method of instruction is first to
establish firmly the underlying principle and only then are
the current achievements and challenges addressed.
Treated are such topics as pulse compression in which
matched filter theory, resolution and broadband pulse
modulation are briefly reviewed, and then the latest code
optimality searches and hybrid coding and code-variable
pulse bursts are explored. Similarly, radar polarimetry is
reviewed in principle, then the application to image
processing (as in Synthetic Aperture Radar work) is
covered. Doppler processing and its application to SAR
imaging itself, then 3D SAR, the moving target problem
and other target signature work are also treated this way.
Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) is introduced;
the resurgent interest in bistatic radar is discussed.
The most ample current literature (conferences and
journals) is used in this course, directing the student to
valuable material for further study. Instruction follows
the student notebook provided.
Instructor:
Robert T. Hill (LF-IEEE) was born in Iowa, received BS in EE as well as MS in EE.
An Air Force ground electronics officer (radar), he then worked as an engineer tor
the Navy Department in radar system development until his retirement. Having
begun teaching in 1975, he now teaches for several sponsors world wide. He has
written the radar articles for the McGraw-Hill technical encyclopedia. Active in the IEEE, he was
many years a member of its Radar Systems Panel and the Board of Governors of its AES Society.
He remains active in radar conference planning of the IEEE and those societies around the world
cooperating in such conferences.
— The nature of radar and the physics involved.
— Concepts and tools required, briefly reviewed.
— Directions taken in radar development and the technological advances
permitting them.
— Further concepts and tools, more elaborate.
Advanced Signal Processing.
— Review of developments in pulse compression (matched filter theory,
modulation techniques, the search for optimality) and in Doppler processing
(principles, "coherent" radar, vector processing, digital techniques);
establishing resolution in time (range) and in frequency (Doppler).
— Recent considerations in hybrid coding, shaping the ambiguity function.
— Target inference. Use of high range and high Doppler resolution: example
and experimental results.
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR).
— Fundamentals reviewed, 2-D and 3-D SAR, example image.
— Developments in image enhancement. The dangerous point-scatterer
assumption. Autofocusing methods in SAR, ISAR imaging. The ground
moving target problem.
— Polarimetry and its application in SAR. Review of polarimetry theory.
Polarimetric filtering: the whitening filter, the matched filter. Polarimetric-dependent
phase unwrapping in 3D IFSAR.
— Image interpretation: target recognition processes reviewed.
A "Radar Revolution" the Phased Array.
— The all-important antenna. General antenna theory, quickly reviewed.
Sidelobe concerns, suppression techniques. Ultra-low sidelobe design.
— The phased array. Electronic scanning, methods, typical componentry.
Behavior with scanning, the impedance problem and matching methods. The
problem of bandwidth; time-delay steering. Adaptive patterns, adaptivity
theory and practice. Digital beam forming. The "active" array.
— Phased array radar, system considerations.
Advanced Data Processing.
— Detection in clutter, threshold control schemes, CFAR.
— Background analysis: clutter statistics, parameter estimation, clutter as a
compound process.
— Association, contacts to tracks.
— Track estimation, filtering, adaptivity, multiple hypothesis testing.
— Integration: multi-radar, multi-sensor data fusion, in both detection and
tracking, greater use of supplemental data, augmenting the radar processing.
Other Topics.
— Bistatics, the resurgent interest. Review of the basics of bistatic radar,
challenges, early experiences. New opportunities: space; terrestrial.
Achievements reported.
— Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP), airborne radar emphasis.
— Ultra-wideband short pulse radar, various claims (well-founded and not); an
example UWB SAR system for good purpose.
— Concluding discussion, course review.
Tuition:
Tuition for this three-day course is $1690 per person at one of our scheduled public courses. Onsite pricing is available. Please call us at 410-956-8805 or send an email to ATI@ATIcourses.com.