ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the use of through-the-wall (TTW) radar in operational policing. It describes some basic technical principles that lay the groundwork for a non-specialist reader to understand the radar concept of operation. The chapter outlines how TTW radar can meet the capability requirements for five scenarios within the context of operational policing: building sweep, surprise entry, emergency planning, strategic planning, and search and rescue. TTW radar research brings together many different areas from the field of electrical engineering including radar hardware and radio-frequency circuits, signal and data processing, image formation and sharpening, antenna development, and electromagnetic wave propagation. The vast majority of TTW radar systems employ transmission waveforms that are either based on short ultra wide band (UWB) pulses or longer continuous waves. UWB radars have emerged as the technology-of-choice for TTW systems. They differ from conventional narrowband radar systems by transmitting signals across much wider frequencies, using transmission pulses which have very short durations.
