Radio detection and ranging (radar) involves the transmission of an electromagnetic wave to a potential object of interest, scattering of the wave by the object, receipt of the scattered energy at the receive site, and signal processing applied to the received signal to generate the desired information product. Originally developed to detect enemy aircraft during World War II, radar has through the years shown diverse application, not just for military consumers, but also for commercial customers. Radar systems are still used to detect enemy aircraft, but they also keep commercial air routes safe, detect speeding vehicles on highways, image polar ice caps, assess deforestation in rain forests from satellite platforms, and image objects under foliage or behind walls. A number of other radar applications abound.

Chapter Contents:

• 1.1 Introduction
• 1.2 Historical Perspective
• 1.3 Radar Measurements
• 1.4 Radar Frequencies
• 1.5 Radar Functions
• 1.6 U.S. Military Radar Nomenclature
• 1.7 Topics in Radar Applications
• 1.8 Comments
• 1.9 References

Inspec keywords: road vehicle radar; electromagnetic wave propagation; radar imaging; radar detection; military radar; electromagnetic wave scattering; radar applications

Other keywords: radar system; satellite platform; energy scattering; enemy aircraft detection; electromagnetic wave transmission; image object; World War II; signal processing; speeding vehicle detection; highway; radio detection and ranging; military consumer; rain forest; commercial customer

Subjects: Optical, image and video signal processing; Electromagnetic wave propagation; Radar and radiowave systems (military and defence); Radar equipment, systems and applications