A look into the future of radar scattering research and development

In estimating future trends in radar scattering research and development, the authors take the view that the dynamics of progress and change will be governed largely by user demands. Emerging developments in radar for space applications, reflectivity from plasma and other permeable bodies, object resolution and recognition, and synthesis of radar cross-section characteristics will in the main stimulate and constrain the direction of future scattering research. The authors speculate on the likely contributions to be expected from known theoretical and experimental approaches to scattering problems. The relative merits of quasi-optical approximation, boundary value solutions, and integral equation formulations suitable for high-speed digital computers are examined. The scientific frontier includes the response of targets to partially coherent electromagnetic waves and the resolution and identification of distributed and statistically representable objects by tomorrow's data processing radar sensors. Available techniques needed to control or modify the diffraction and scatter of targets are discussed in terms of future requirements assuming that objects with resonant dimensions and composed of complex materials will be of growing importance. Promising experimental methods are evaluated which will be of aid in attacking such difficult problems as plasma reflectivity, bistatic characteristics of extended targets, and near zone scattering. It is anticipated that the electromagnetic scattering properties of matter in shaped and distributed form will provide the essential information needed for space exploration and many vital military operations.