IEEE 2003 Radar Conference
"Radar--Exploring the Universe"
was held at the
The Huntsville Marriott
Huntsville, Alabama, May 5-8, 2003

The IEEE National Radar Conference, in conjunction with the International Radar Conference, has grown to be the most important radar conference in the world - bringing together innovators, leaders, and users from the civil, space, and military communities to address important issues and share the most recent advances in radar. This conference was held at the Marriott Hotel in Huntsville, Alabama on May 5-8, 2003.

The theme for the 2003 conference was Radar--Exploring the Universe. Recent advances in digital technology have enabled us to implement new radar approaches that were just analytical curiosities a few years ago - for example, space-time adaptive processing (STAP), super-resolution algorithms, improved synthetic aperture radar (SAR) algorithms, and multiple hypothesis tracking. As a result, we're achieved dramatic performance improvements in clutter processing, target location accuracy, anti-jamming, and other areas. Moreover, high-speed digital processing acts as an enabler for digital beamforming, enhancing radar functionality and instantaneous coverage in bistatic applications. Other enablers include the development of low-cost T/R modules and phase shifters, improved low-noise amplifiers, and SIC transmitter modules.

Along with these advances come new, substantially more difficult requirements: current and future systems demand more difficult sensitivity, straining the limits of transmitter power, receive-antenna aperture, component capabilities, and subclutter visibility. Better resolution for SAR applications, improved detection and target ID methods, and smaller, less costly RF components and processors are also needed. The challenge is how to best apply digital technology and other advances, while identifying and developing new technologies for the future.