Bistatic Radar

This is the only English language book on bistatic radar. It starts with James Casper’s fine chapter in the first edition of Skolnik’s Radar Handbook (1970), capturing previously unpublished work before 1970. It then summarizes and codifies subsequent bistatic radar research and development, especially as catalogued in the special December 1986 IEE journal. It defines and resolves many issues and controversies plaguing bistatic radar, including predicted performance, monostatic equivalence, bistatic radar cross section and resolution, bistatic Doppler, hitchhiking, SAR, ECM/ECCM, and, most importantly, the utility of bistatic radars. The text provides a history of bistatic systems that points out to potential designers, the applications that have worked and the dead-ends not worth pursuing. The text reviews the basic concepts and definitions, and explains the mathematical development of relationships, such as geometry, Ovals of Cassini, dynamic range, isorange and isodoppler contours, target doppler, and clutter doppler spread.

Author Biography

Nicholas J. Willis received a BS degree in mathematics from Stanford University in 1956 under an NROTC-Holloway scholarship. He spent five years in the U.S. Navy, two on destroyers and three the Talos guided missile program sixteen years in industry with Philco-Ford, SRI International and Systems Control, Inc.; five years at DARPA; and a final 17 years at Technology Service Corp. Mr Willis now consults and conducts short courses for government and industry. As an SES-3 at DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, Mr Willis was responsible for radar, EW and land warfare programs, including bistatic radars, LPI radars and in particular Pave Mover, the forerunner of JSTARS. When at TSC, he designed one of the F-22 radar modes. Mr Willis has won the DoD’s JDR Best Paper Award twice.