Professor Hugh Griffiths of University College London (UCL) has been awarded the A. F. Harvey Engineering Research Prize from the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) for his contributions to radar research.
“I’m absolutely thrilled. It is an enormous honor to be recognized by one’s peers in this way,” Griffiths said.
Griffiths received £300,000 to continue his research, which aims to make major improvements in bistatic radar and its applications by investigating “the behavior of targets and clutter in bistatic radar.”
“Bistatic radar is where the transmitter and receiver are located separately, rather than using a single antenna. This introduces some complications, but also offers some significant advantages for all sorts of radars,” Griffiths explained.
“[The research] should help us design better radars for applications such as air traffic control, geophysical remote sensing and for defense and security,” he added.
The techniques being explored by Griffiths could result in radar systems that are more difficult to jam because the enemy cannot as easily identify all parts of the radar. Removing the transmitter from the receiver may also increase the mobility of the sensor-end of the radar, enabling placement on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The new radar technology could also provide more bandwidth for both commercial and military use, Griffiths added.
“Everyone wants more bandwidth, but it’s increasingly difficult to fit everyone in. So, there is a lot of interest in techniques that might use broadcast signals as radar sources. You could even think of designing your broadcast waveforms so that they do not just do their normal job, but are also made more useful for radar,” he said.
“Our judging panel was presented with some very high caliber candidates, but Professor Griffiths’ work shone through. I really hope this prize will help him to continue his ground-breaking work with radars,” Professor Andy Hopper, president of the IET, said.
A lecture on “principles, practice and potential of bistatic radar” was presented earlier this week by Griffiths at IET’s Savoy Place venue in London.
Professor Griffiths holds the THALES/Royal Academy of Engineering Chair of RF Sensors at UCL, is president of the IEEE Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AESS) Board of Governors and serves as Editor-in-Chief of IET’s Radar, Sonar and Navigation journal.
