4 ms·

What are the new radar technologies? Isn't radar ultimately a very simple process?

• c_o_n_v_e_x 3y ago
  Not an expert but I think over the horizon radar is a relatively new-ish tech. Legacy radar is relies on line of sight to to your target.
• kube-system 3y ago
  Bouncing a signal is simple. Making sense of the signal you get back is extremely complicated.
• causality0 3y ago
  That's like saying "aren't cameras a very simple process" when comparing Explorer 6 and the JWST.
• icegreentea2 3y ago
  Improved networking and sensor processing is one big avenue of improvement. Low observable designs typically do the majority of their heavy lifting by 'deflecting' radar beams away from the source. This means distributed systems of transmitters and receivers, networked together with enough compute oompf could potentially do a much better job at detecting and tracking. At the absolute bleeding edge of radar technology (like... probably decades and decades out) is developing and deploying quantum radar systems (these use entanglement to try to increase signal to noise).
• meepmorp 3y ago
  AESA, actively scanned electronic array. Among other things, they're harder to detect and jam than older radars, so aircraft don't know if they've been detected and EW techniques aren't as effective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_electronically_scanned_array https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_electronically_scanned_...
  • jojobas 3y ago
    AESA is just the way you form and steer the beam and listen for the return. It doesn't automagically mean your beam is less detectable or harder to jam. It's the tricks that are easier to deploy with AESA that achieve that - noise-like signal, higher receiver sensitivity allowing for lower emission power, clever signal processing etc.
• jojobas 3y ago
  God no. The details were more secret than the atom bomb in the 40's and are much more complicated than that today.