Professor of the Practice Eric Evans led a new course on defense radar technology during this year’s Independent Activities Period (IAP). More than 20 students enrolled in the class, which introduced the basics of how radar systems work and are designed. The course explored radar antennas, transmitter and receiver design, signal processing, and the tradeoffs engineers consider when building radar systems for ground-, air-, and space-based sensing.
Students visited major radar facilities in Westford, Massachusetts, including the Haystack Ultrawideband Satellite Imaging Radar and the Millstone Hill Geospace Facility. Staff members at both sites shared overviews of the systems and led tours of the hardware, where students watched the radars’ massive dish antennas move. The course also included a radar measurement demonstration from the roof of Building 31, where students got a closer look at how radar systems are integrated and tested.
The course offered a new opportunity for students to connect radar theory with the large-scale systems used in practice.
