Overview

The analysis of the current state and tendencies in radar development shows that novel methods of target viewing are based on a detailed study of echo signals and their informative characteristics. These methods are aimed at obtaining complete data on a target, with emphasis on revealing new steady parameters for their recognition. One way of raising the efficiency of radar technology is to improve available methods of radio vision, or imaging. Radio vision systems provide a high resolution, considerably extending the scope of target detection and recognition. This field of radar science and technology is very promising, because it paves the way from the classical detection of a point target to the imaging of a whole object.

The physical mechanism underlying target viewing can be understood on a heuristic basis. An electromagnetic wave incident on a target induces an electric current on it, generating a scattered electromagnetic wave. In order to find the scattering properties of the target, we must visualise its elements making the greatest contribution to the wave scattering. This brings us to the concept of a radar image, which can be defined as a spatial distribution pattern of the target reflectivity. Therefore, an image must give a spatial quantitative description of this physical property of the target with a quality not less than that provided by conventional observational techniques.

Radio vision makes it possible to sense an object as a visual picture. This is very important because we get about 90 per cent of all information...