Sunday, July 5, 2009

Radar System Analysis -- A Useful Book

Book Review -- Radar System Analysis by David K Barton

Radar Systems Analysis is a comprehensive and cohesive introduction to radar systems design and performance estimation. It offers professionals the knowledge they need to understand, analyze, evaluate, or design radar systems. The book presents accurate detection range equations for realistically estimating radar performance in a variety of practical situations. As radar systems evolve, designers, engineers, and analysts can turn to this book again and again to keep up with the latest advances in radar technology.

This book offers radar engineers all the fundamental and advanced information they need in day-to-day work. Readers will find several lucid chapters on various aspects of radar, such as theory of target detection, theory of radar measurement, description of radar targets, theory of search radar and its signal synthesis and analysis, error analysis, processing of radar data and tracking systems.

The book is divided into seventeen chapters starting with the theory of target detection where the radar echoes and noises are dealt with along with the integration of pulses. Chapter 2, 3 and 4 deals with the radar measurement of range, angle and velocity using the classical radar equation description, and description on RCS and complex targets. Chapter 5, 6, 7 and 8 is dedicated to the search radar and its target detection and measurement, MTI techniques, and synthesis and analysis. Chapter 9 to 14 deals extensively with the track radars which include angle measurement and tracking and its error analysis, range tracking systems, Doppler tracking systems, tracking radar data processing and its acquisition. There are discussions on the survey of propagation effects and multistation radar networks.

This book details practical procedures for search and track radar system testing and evaluation of radar range in difficult environments of combined noise, jamming, and clutter. However, an important topic like radar testing and evaluation gets one lonely chapter with somewhat cursory coverage. The book is substantiated with the adequate references and bibliography along with mathematical approximations for radar beam shape, spectra and waveforms.

Tables on transmission line and receiver input noise temperatures and table on radar range factors for system power change from 0 to 40 db have been provided for appropriate reference and use.

This excellent book summarizes the theory of radar systems and provides the radar engineer with methods and tools for estimating the performance of a wide variety of radars and for synthesizing or selecting radar designs to meet detection and tracking requirements, and, I recommend this book to all those interested in this fascinating field and Libraries of Technical Educational Institutions.

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