High Frequency Over-the-Horizon Radar: Fundamental Principles, Signal Processing, and Practical Applications
THE MOST COMPLETE GUIDE TO HIGH FREQUENCY OVER-THE-HORIZON RADAR SYSTEMS
Written by a leading global expert on the topic, High Frequency Over-the-Horizon Radar provides in-depth coverage of the signal processing models and techniques that have significantly advanced OTH radar technology. This pioneering work describes the fundamental principles of OTH radar design and operation, and then delves into the mathematical modeling of HF signals received by actual OTH radar systems based on experimental data analysis. Numerous examples illustrate the practical application of modern adaptive signal processing techniques to real and simulated OTH radar data.
This authoritative text covers skywave and surface-wave systems and is an invaluable resource for researchers, engineers, and practitioners working with OTH radar systems and technologies.
Key Features:
- Offers a thorough and accurate treatment of essential concepts ranging from system design and operation, through to signal processing methods, and their practical application.
- Provides clear explanations of fundamental principles for scientists, engineers, students, practitioners, technicians, managers, and other professionals starting out in this field.
- Offers a detailed coverage of theoretical and applied signal-processing concepts and techniques that have become a cornerstone for the effective operation of real-world OTH radar systems.
- Fills a long-standing void in the contemporary OTH radar literature with over 350 illustrations (color figures available for download), and over 500 references.
Why Read This Book
You should read this book if you need a focused, practical reference on HF over‑the‑horizon (OTH) radar signal processing: it explains ionospheric propagation and OTH signal models, then shows how to apply adaptive and statistical DSP techniques to real and simulated OTH data. It balances theory, measurement‑based modeling, and worked examples so you can move directly from understanding physical effects to implementing clutter cancellation, detection, and imaging algorithms.
Who Will Benefit
Radar engineers, DSP practitioners, and researchers with prior DSP and radar background who are designing or researching HF OTH systems, adaptive processing, or ionospheric propagation effects.
Level: Advanced — Prerequisites: Solid background in DSP (Fourier analysis, spectral estimation, filtering), array signal processing, statistical detection/estimation theory, and a basic understanding of radio propagation/ionospheric physics; familiarity with MATLAB or similar tools is helpful.
Key Takeaways
- Model HF OTH signal propagation through the ionosphere and distinguish skywave vs surface‑wave return characteristics.
- Design and apply adaptive beamforming and adaptive clutter‑cancellation techniques tailored to OTH radar environments.
- Implement detection and parameter estimation algorithms robust to ionospheric fading, multipath, and nonstationary clutter.
- Perform Doppler and spectral analysis for moving target detection in long‑range HF radar returns.
- Use measurement‑based approaches to validate models and process real OTH radar datasets.
Topics Covered
- 1. Introduction to High‑Frequency Over‑the‑Horizon Radar
- 2. HF Radio Propagation and Ionospheric Physics
- 3. OTH Radar System Architectures: Skywave and Surface‑Wave
- 4. Mathematical Signal Models for OTH Radar Returns
- 5. Noise, Clutter, and Interference in HF Bands
- 6. Spectral and Doppler Processing for OTH Radar
- 7. Adaptive Beamforming and Array Processing Techniques
- 8. Clutter Cancellation and Adaptive Filtering Methods
- 9. Detection and Estimation under Nonstationary Conditions
- 10. Imaging, Classification, and Target Parameter Retrieval
- 11. Experimental Data Analysis and Case Studies
- 12. Practical System Design Considerations and Performance Evaluation
- 13. Future Trends and Emerging Applications
Languages, Platforms & Tools
How It Compares
More specialized on HF OTH propagation and adaptive processing than general radar texts like Skolnik's Radar Handbook, and more applied to OTH measurement and algorithm implementation than broad DSP/detection texts (e.g., Kay); complementary to general array processing or statistical detection references.
