ABSTRACT
Radar systems use modulated bandpass radio frequency (RF) signals and directive antennas to search for targets within the radar field of view (FOV). When this RF signal is incident on a target, it interacts with the target in accordance with Maxwell's equations and RF energy is scattered out in all directions from the target. Some portion of the scattered energy (target return or echo) is in the direction of the radar. The radar, through its antenna, captures the echo signal and through signal processing (using specialized hardware along with signal/data processing algorithms), the radar extracts target information such as target range, target velocity, target angular position, etc. More specifically, the radar system emits a completely known waveform (signal) into free space with the expectation that a modified version of this transmitted signal scattered from the target will return to the radar. Accordingly, understanding the radar signal types and their associated radar signal processing techniques are key to understating how radars function. In this context, this chapter presents the basic radar system hardware and some of the most common radar terms.
