The largest part of the Earth's surface lies beneath the sea; events taking place in, on and directly above the oceans have an enormous impact on our lives. Consequently, maritime remote sensing and surveillance are of great importance. Since its discovery during the 1930s, radar has played a central role in these activities. Much of their military development was driven by the circumstances of the Cold War; now this era is past and a different set of imperatives holds sway. Military surveillance does, however, remain a key requirement. Great progress has been made recently on non-military applications, particularly the remote sensing of the environment, of which the sea is the most important component. These newly emerging concerns, whether they are ecological or geopolitical, currently define the requirements imposed on maritime radar systems. Nonetheless, the underlying principles of the systems' operation, and the interpretation of their output, remain the same; the body of knowledge developed in the twentieth century provides us with the tools with which to address the problems facing the radar engineer of the twenty-first century. This book attempts to bring together those aspects of maritime radar relating to scattering from the sea surface, and their exploitation in radar systems. The presentation aims to emphasise the unity and simplicity of the underlying principles and so should facilitate their application in these changing circumstances.

Chapter Contents:

• 1.1 Prologue
• 1.2 Maritime radar
• 1.3 The modelling of radar returns from the sea
• 1.4 The use of clutter models in radar development
• 1.4.1 Requirement definition
• 1.4.2 Modelling of potential performance
• 1.4.3 System and algorithm development
• 1.4.4 Performance assessment and acceptance trials
• 1.4.5 In-service tactics and training
• 1.4.6 In-service upgrades
• 1.5 Outline of the book
• References