System-level radar modeling requirements are different from radar design mod
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els requirements. The latter involve details of the radar hardware and trace the sig
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nals through the various elements of the radar. They focus on how to make the radar
work. System models, on the other hand, focus on overall radar performance, and
often rely on basic principles. Thus, they may be used for conceptual radar that has
not been fully designed or built, or for parametric analyses of radar designs. They
usually assume the radar has been, or will be, designed to work properly. These
models represent the key features of radar without excessive detail.
The radar models described in this book may be used by system analysts to
evaluate systems that include radar, and by modelers and programmers involved in
simulating the performance of radar in systems. Several of the key models are pro
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grammed into custom radar functions, so that the models may be readily used for
radar analysis in Excel workbooks. These may also provide a guide for modelers and
simulation programmers.
This book is intended for engineers who are evaluating radar system issues, sys
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tems analysts who are involved with systems that include radar, and programmers
who are simulating the performance of radar. It is aimed at engineers, scientists, and
mathematicians who are not radar experts. Only a general engineering and mathe
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matical background is assumed; no specialized radar engineering or advanced
mathematics is required. In developing and describing the models, the book gives the
reader a basic understanding of radar principles.
This chapter provides a brief an overview of radar operation and applications,
followed by a discussion of functional radar models and their software representa-
tions. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 discuss radar configurations, radar parameters and radar
waveform characteristics. These provide a general radar understanding for the sys-
tems analyst, to serve as background for radar analysis and model development.
These chapters may be skipped by those already familiar with basic radar principles,
or may be used as reference material.
The radar models are developed and presented in Chapters 5 through 11. In
these chapters, the reader may go directly to modeling topics of interest. References
are made to discussions and results in other chapters, where they are helpful to
understanding the material. The final section in each of these chapters describes the
Excel custom radar functions that are based on the chapter topics. Analysis exam
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ples using the radar models together to solve practical radar problems, both analyti
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cally and in Excel workbooks, are given in Chapter 12.
Most of the models in this book may be found in, or derived from, material in
standard radar texts [1–3]. The book collects the radar material needed by system
modelers, presents it in a concise format, and provides guidance for using it in sys
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tems analysis. Selected bibliographies are provided at the end of each chapter that
give sources of additional background and information on the topics addressed in
the chapter. They are intended to enrich the reader’s knowledge of radar and pro
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vide information that goes beyond the scope of this book.A list of symbols used in
the book, along with their definitions, is given in Appendix A. Appendix B contains
a glossary of key terms and acronyms used in the book. A list of the custom radar
functions with directions for their installation and use is provided in Appendix C.
Appendix D gives procedures for converting the standard metric units used in the
models in this book to and from various measurement units (see Section 1.4).
2 Introduction