Customer Reviews

Radar Cross Section, Second Edition (Scitech Radar and Defense)

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Probably one of the best books I've seen for a basic understanding of RCS and how it applies to aircraft design. It's a little daunting at first if you are not familiar with basic electromagnetics, especially the math. But there are many places where only principles are discussed. The one drawback of the book is the lack of numerical examples demonstrating the proper use of the monstrous equations and techniques. When an example is given, only results are shown.

Knott, Shaeffer, and Tuley don't tell us everything about stealth, naturally, but within the limits of a single, unclassified volume this is about as balanced and comprehensive an overview as could be wished. The approach is physical rather than purely mathematical. A good background in electromagnetics is needed for full mastery of the material, but a more limited knowledge of electricity and magnetism will still allow good basic comprehension. Even full mastery of the book won't make you a qualified RCS engineer, but it provides a good basis for further study as well as an excellent resource for those who need an overall design and technology perspective, or must communicate clearly with specialists. I've consulted it over and over in the 15 years since I acquired a copy of the first edition. The second edition has important improvements, although the first edition remains useful in many areas.

Will O'Neil

This book discusses, at an introductory level, the concepts of radar cross section and electromagnetic scattering phenomena. It also goes over some of the computational techniques used in the area of RCS prediction, such as physical optics, diffraction, and the method of moments. There are also several sections that talk about radar absorbing materials (RAM) and RCS reduction. Most of the equations in this book are, however, useless as far as implementation in a production-level numerical code. To do so, the reader will need to go back to the original sources (which the authors do reference) and go from there.