Book Reviews Air and Spaceborne Radar Systems: An Introduction

Airborne radar systems have come a long way since the first equipment of WW2. Nowadays radars on aircraft have a great variety of functions from navigation and meteorological purposes to more specialised purposes on military aircraft associated with surveillance and weapon delivery. Developments of processing techniques such as coherent moving target indication and synthetic aperture radar have been matched by huge advances in technology such as digital processing and solid state phased arrays. More recent decades have seen the development of satellite-borne radars for geophysical environmental monitoring and surveillance applications. A book that brings together a detailed theoretical treatment and a systems-level engineering understanding of the subject is both unusual and of great potential value to the radar community. The French radar industry has played a significant role in the development of many of the innovations in airborne and spaceborne radar. The authors of this book are acknowledged as experts in the field, and they provide a uniquely European perspective to the subject. The book comprises 28 chapters organised into five sections: general principles, target detection and tracking, ground mapping and imagery, principal applications, and radars of the future. Modern topics such as electronically-scanned arrays, multifunction radar and synthetic aperture radar are covered in some detail. The style is clear and concise, with numerous diagrams and illustrative design examples. The level is pitched at the practising engineer or graduate student, making use of graduatelevel mathematical techniques. For all of these reasons, this book will be of value to a wide audience both as a reference to radar engineers and those responsible for the specification and procurement of airborne and EW101: A First Course in Electronic Warfare