Radar Rudiments
■ James Chu
H
abibur Rahman, the author
of Fundamental Principles of
Radar, is a professor of elec­
trical and computer engineering at
St. Louis University, Missouri, and has
an extensive background in education.
In addition, Prof. Rahman has been
professionally active as a researcher in
the general areas of electromagnetics,
radar, satellite communications, and
engineering education.
This book is intended to serve as
a text for courses that provide a stu­
dent’s first exposure to radar princi­
ples. It covers the broad concepts that
underlie basic principles of opera­
tion for most existing radar systems
and maintains a good level of math­
ematical rigor—suitable to convince
readers without being so dense as to
cause them to lose interest. The book
provides an extensive exposition of
techniques currently used for radar
system design, analysis, and evalu­
James Chu (james.chu@gtri.gatech.edu)
is a research engineer with the Georgia
Tech Research Institute, Georgia Institute
of Technology, Atlanta, United States.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MMM.2019.2963755
Date of current version: 2 March 2020
94
Fundamental Principles of Radar
By Habibur Rahman
CRC Press, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-138-38779-9,
321 pages, hardback and e-book both
US$119.96.
ation. To this end, it presents a com­
prehensive set of radar principles,
including all features of modern radar
applications with their underlying
derivation, using the simplest math­
ematics possible.
Chapter 1 presents material cover­
ing historical background, elementary
electromagnetics, and preliminary
descriptions of different radar types,
including basic radar block diagrams
and operation; primary and second­
ary radars; monostatic, bistatic, and
multiple input/multiple output radars;
and more.
Chapter 2 provides an overview of
radar background information, such
as range, range resolution, Doppler
frequency, and extraction of target
information. It demonstrates a few
simple equations to calculate range
ambiguity and resolution and explains
the calculation of Doppler frequency
with detailed examples. This chapter
also provides the first set of homework
problems for students.
Chapter 3 introduces the concept
of the radar equation; it first discusses
the general form of the equation and
then expands and generalizes it. The
chapter concludes with a set of radar
equations that apply to different ra­­
dars, such as low pulse repetition fre­
quency (PRF) and high PRF radars;
radar beacons; bistatic, search, track­
i ng, a nd pulse compression radar;
April 2020
and radar jamming Each subject in
the chapter is followed by an exam­
ple that further clarifies the equation
and shows how to solve real-world
problems. The RF Cafe Calculator
Workbook, a free program published
on the RF Cafe website (http://www
.rfca fe.com/references/ele c t r ica l
.htm), complements this chapter with
a program that calculates one- and
two-way path loss, propagation time,
radar blind speed, radar horizon, line
of sight, and more.
Chapter 4 explores target scat­
tering, including various statistical
models to describe radar cross-section
(RCS) fluctuation, and looks at the RCS
characteristics of some simple and
complex shapes. Noise effects, noise
figure, and noise temperature are
also discussed. Radar clutter types,
including surface, land, sea, and vol­
ume clutter (e.g., rain, dust, chaff,
birds, and insects), are all discussed.
The clutter statistical distributions
Rayleigh, log-normal, K, and Weibull
are briefly introduced, and equations
for each distribution are listed, but no
examples are given. Because students
in their first radar class probably do
not have strong statistics backgrounds
in these types of distributions, exam­
ples for each distribution would have
been very helpful.
Chapter 5 explains atmospheric
effects on the propagation of radar
signals. It describes phenomena such
as diffraction due to the Earth’s curva­
ture, atmospheric refraction, multipath
reflection, anomalous propagation,
and ionospheric attenuation.
Chapter 6 discusses the fundamen­
tals of continuous-wave (CW) radar
and reviews the basis for CW radar
detection, especially the Doppler
effect. The calculation of the Doppler
shift from two aircraft approaching
each other at a given angle is an excel­
lent example provided in this chapter.
A system diagram of CW radar shows
how Doppler frequency is derived.
Techniques for predicting CW radar
range performance are included, as
are several modulation techniques,
such as linear, sinusoidal, frequency
April 2020 95
modulation, phase modulation, and
multiple frequency.
Chapter 7 covers moving target
indication (MTI) and pulse Doppler
radars. It reviews the limitations of
radar in moving target detection and
then presents an overview of various
moving target indications and pulse
Doppler radar techniques. This chapter
also includes single and double delay-
line cancelers, MTI recursive and non­
recursive filters, and staggered pulse
repetition frequencies. Finally, the
chapter introduces pulse Doppler radar
as well as range and Doppler ambigui­
ties. Many examples are included, one
of the most helpful being the use of
blind speed to determine maximum
unambiguous range.
Chapter 8 presents the general time–
frequency ambiguity function, which
provides a composite measure of both
the resolution and ambiguity capabil­
ity and imitations of given transmitter
waveforms. It also describes the tech­
niques of frequency-modulation pulse
compression, frequency stepping, and
phase modulation. A detailed discus­
sion of Barker coding for pulse com­
pression is presented, and an example
of how to generate Frank coding for
pulse compression is clearly explained.
Chapter 9 describes the concepts
behind sy nthetic aperture radar
(SAR) that allow high-angular and
cross-range resolution in long-range
airborne search radar to be achieved.
The basic mathematical relationships
that support the design of SAR and the
prediction of performance are devel­
oped. A good X-band SAR example
that calculates the antenna length and
far-field distance is included. Signal-
to-noise ratio (SNR) applied to SAR
is explained, and an SNR equation is
derived. The chapter provides a help­
ful example of average power calcula­
tion with SNR.
Chapter 10 presents range and
range-tracking configuration, includ­
ing sequential lobbing, conical scan,
amplit ude a nd phase-comparison
monopulse radars, and track-while-
scan. Several applications, advantages,
and disadvantages of each technique
are discussed. A few block diagrams
show each type of radar system. The
chapter also covers a-b and a-b-c
trackers and how they relate to the
Kalman filter and estimated values.
Many examples of tracker/filter calcu­
lations and their estimation are given.
Chapter 11, which covers aperture
and array antennas, discusses in detail
the important concepts underlying
phase array antennas, including lin­
ear, planar, circular, and conformal
arrays. Two tables list all equations to
calculate null, main lobe maxima, half-
power points, and minor lobe maxima
for endfire and broadside array, and
many good examples of design array
antennas are provided.
Chapter 12 presents various types
of height-finding radars and 3D radar
to measure elevation angle and azi­
muth angle. The discussion covers
the effect of Earth geometrics and the
radar horizon with and without refrac­
tion. The chapter also covers many
types of radar altimeters, including
beam limited, pulse limited, and SAR.
Chapter 13 introduces the complete
spectrum of electronic warfare (EW),
including electronic countermeasures,
electronic support measures, and
electronic counter-countermeasures
(ECCM). Only a generalized overview
of EW is presented, with nomencla­
ture, definitions, and semantics rather
than specific technical descriptions. A
good example of using X-band radar
parameters to calculate the range of an
interceptor within the radar’s illumina­
tion is provided. On the topic of ECCM,
a detailed explanation of a sidelobe
blanker and sidelobe canceler with a
system block diagram of both systems
is particularly informative. The chapter
also considers the pros and cons of each
type of ECCM receiver.
Chapter 14 addresses the concept
of over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) and
describes sky- and surface-wave OTHR
systems, with some discussion of iono­
spheric effects and ray path trajectories,
including thin- and thick-layer mod­
els. It also includes calculation of the
(continued on page 107)
Skyroot Aerospace was represented
by the company’s cofounder and CEO,
Pawan Chandana. These startups are
tackling unique and interesting prob-
lems in the space sector.
Conclusions
YPinSpace has completed three suc-
cessful years and looks forward to
many more. The organizers would
like to thank the IEEE community and
the associated Societies for their over-
whelming support. We also plan to
make a conscious effort to increase par-
ticipation by underrepresented groups
in these technical areas. The program,
which was initiated by YPs, will contin-
ue to serve this community to the best
of its ability.
Acknowledgment
We would like to thank engineer
Meera Rashid Al Shamsi, Mohammed
Bin Rashid Space Center, for providing
some of the metrics. Some of the photo-
graphs used in the article were repro-
duced from the social media Facebook
page of YPinSpace. We would also like
to acknowledge the funding support
(in alphabetical order) from the IEEE
Aerospace and Electronic Systems So-
ciety; the IEEE Antennas and Propa-
gation Society; the IEEE Geoscience
and Remote Sensing Society; the IEEE
1 1 Algeria
1 Canada
1 Jorden
9
1 Kyrgyzstan
Nepal
1
The Netherlands
1 Spain
1 Sri Lanka
Croatia
2 United Kingdom
United States
2 4 Pakistan
2 India
Figure 6. Representation, by country, for the 27 travel grants (each worth US$500)
awarded for YPinSpace 2019 (251 applications were received).
Microwave Theory and Techniques Nov. 9, 2019. Accessed on: Nov. 10, 2019. [Online].
Society; the IEEE Systems, Man, and Available: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/09/
how-to-invest-in-space-companies-complete
Cybernetics Society; and the IEEE
-guide-to-rockets-satellites-and-more.html
Young Professionals. Dr. Suresh Ven- [2] D. Jayaweera, “Beyond the horizon: Young Pro-
katesh would like to acknowledge Dr. fessionals in space,” IEEE Young Professionals,
Disha Sharma, Princeton University, 2018. Accessed on: Nov. 10, 2019. [Online]. Avail-
able: https://yp.ieee.org/beyond-the-horizon
for proofreading the manuscript. L.G. -young-professionals-in-space-2018/
Llamazares is a cofounder of Radian [3] Open Cosmos. Accessed on: Nov. 10, 2019. [On-
Systems, which is commercializing ag- line]. Available: https://open-cosmos.com/
ile thermal analysis solutions for satel- [4] Precious Payload. Accessed on: Nov. 10, 2019. [On-
line]. Available: https://preciouspayload.com/
lites and payloads. [5] Radian Systems. Accessed on: Nov. 10, 2019.
[Online]. Available: https://radian.systems/
[6] Skyroot Aerospace. Accessed on: Nov. 10,
References 2019. [Online]. Available: https://skyroot.in/
[1] M. Sheetz, “An investor’s guide to space, Wall
Street’s next trillion-dollar industry,” CNBC,

Book/Software Reviews (continued from page 95)

extended range of an OTHR radar. In
the final pages of the chapter, the author
gives a very interesting history of OTHR
development in several countries, focus-
ing especially on how unknown noise
disrupted OTHR operation and forced
the move to a quieter location. The use
of OTHR for purposes such as ship
tracking is also discussed.
Chapter 15 presents the basic prin-
ciple of secondary surveillance radar
and its operation via interrogation and
transponder reply and includes mono-
pulse techniques and sidelobe sup-
pression. It also shows the calculation
of up- and downlink ranges.
With the inclusion of six appendi-
ces covering basic applied mathemat-
ics and probability, this book covers
all of the most important aspects of
radar technologies. The first book on
radar written for college students, it
focuses on the fundamental principles
in understandable language. In addi-
tion, the text provides great examples
to clarify the associated equations and
concepts, with all examples based on
real radar parameters, giving students
some experience of the real radar
world. The book is accompanied by
an instructor’s manual to save the
instructor time and effort.
This is the radar textbook all engi-
neering programs should adopt for
their radar classes. It is also an excel-
lent reference for radar profession-
als in designing and analyzing radar
performance.

April 2020 107