Radar Systems and Technologies

ABSTRACT

Radar systems and technologies play a crucial role in modern society, enabling sensing capabilities in a wide number of applications from weather forecasting and air traffic control to remote sensing and surveillance up to navigation and autonomous driving, ensuring safety and security in various domains. More recently, the fusion of sensing capabilities with advanced communication technologies promises to revolutionize next-generation mobile connectivity, enabling innovative services that support the evolving demands of smart cities and environments. The course will review basic principles and fundamentals of radar, then focusing on modern radar systems and technologies and their applications. The classes are organized according to a learning-by-doing modality in which several numerical exercises, exploiting SW programs, will complete the theoretical lessons.  

COURSE CONTENT

  • Radar principles and objectives: terminology; passive/active radar; frequency spectrum; radar for detection, localization, tracking, and imaging;
  • Radar basics: radar equation; radar cross section (RCS) and clutter; pulse repetition frequency (PRF); resolution capabilities in range and the non-ambiguous range; Doppler effect; range and velocity ambiguities;
  • Radar systems: monostatic, bistatic, and MIMO Radar;
  • Continuous waves (CW), frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FM-CW), and pulsed radar: principles, general architectures, and main applications;
  • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): SAR fundamentals; SAR acquisition strategies; inverse SAR (ISAR) imaging;
  • Basic criteria for radar instruments selection;
  • Focus on weather radar: guidelines on how to collect, interpret and analyze environmental data according to World Meteorological Organization (WMO) standards and recommendations;
  • Read and analyze base reflectivity images, base velocity images, wind maps, and precipitation images.
 

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

  • Theoretical Lessons
  • e-Xam Self Assessment (each teaching class or periodically)
  • MATLAB Hands-On
  • e-Xam Final Assessment
 

FURTHER READINGS

  1. M. I. Skolnik, “Radar Handbook”, McGraw-Hill, 2008.
  2. G. Franceschetti and R. Lanari, “Synthetic Aperture Radar Processing”, CRC Press, 1999.
  3. W. L. Melvin and J. A. Scheer, Principles of Modern Radar: Advanced Techniques. SciTech, 2013.
  4. W. L. Melvin and J. A. Scheer, Principles of Modern Radar: Radar Applications. SciTech, 2014.

Course Information

Date:  29th July - 2nd August 2024 (1 week, 32 hours)
Format:  The course is offered in blended form (onsite and online)

Registration Information

Enrollment deadline: 18th July 2024 (onsite); 25th July 2024 (online).

UniTN Students (*):  Free
EXTERNAL Students:  400 Eu: Onsite attendance
200 Eu: Online attendance

The fees include the course teaching, the slides/material, and the video recordings.
(*) Student status certification of the University of TRENTO is required

Registration Procedure

Complete the online application through the decicated registration webpage.

NOTES: