Electromagnetic Scintillation: Volume 2, Weak Scattering

Electromagnetic scintillation describes the phase and amplitude fluctuations imposed on signals that travel through the atmosphere. These volumes provide a modern reference and comprehensive tutorial for this subject, treating both optical and microwave propagation. Measurements and predictions are integrated at each step of the development. The first volume dealt with phase and angle-of-arrival measurement errors, which are accurately described by geometrical optics. This second volume concentrates on amplitude and intensity fluctuations of the received signal. Electromagnetic scintillation describes the phase and amplitude fluctuations imposed on signals that travel through the atmosphere. These volumes provide a modern reference and comprehensive tutorial for this subject, treating both optical and microwave propagation. Measurements and predictions are integrated at each step of the development.

Author Biography

Dr Albert D. Wheelon has been a visiting scientist for the past decade at the Environmental Technology Laboratory of NOAA in Boulder, Colorado. He holds a BSc degree in engineering science from Stanford University and a PhD in physics from MIT, where he was a teaching fellow and a research associate in the Research Laboratory for Electronics. He has published thirty papers on radio physics and space technology in learned journals. He has spent his entire career at the frontier of technology. He made important early contributions to ballistic missile and satellite technology at TRW, where he was director of the Radio Physics Laboratory. While in government service, he was responsible for the development and operation of satellite and aircraft reconnaissance systems. He later led the development of communication and scientific satellites at Hughes Aircraft. This firm was a world leader in high technology and he became its CEO in 1986. He has been a visiting professor at MIT and UCLA. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the IEEE and the AIAA. He is also a member of the National Academy of Engineering and has received several awards for his contributions to technology and national security including the R. V. Jones medal. He is currently a trustee of Cal Tech and the RAND Corporation. He was a member of the Defense Science Board and the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. He has been an advisor to five national scientific laboratories in the United States.