ABSTRACT
This chapter develops the vernacular and tools for understanding scattering from a target when it is illuminated with an incident radar waveform. The characteristics of radar scattering are dependent on the ratio of the target’s dimensions to the wavelength of the incident wave. The radar cross section of a target is defined as one term in what is known as the radar range equation or simply, the radar equation. The radar equation gives an expression for the power received at a radar as a function of many parameters. The distributions induced on a radar target, other than for a sphere, are dependent on the incident angle of the incoming radar waveform. The analog between a target illuminated in the resonance region by an incident radar wave and that of a vibrating string or a vibrating drumhead radiating a musical signal are very close.
