Dr Clive Alabaster

Clive Alabaster

Senior Lecturer
Location: Shrivenham
E: c.m.alabaster@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1793 785905
Department of Informatics and Systems Engineering


Current activities

Research Interests:

  • Dielectric Measurements, particularly in the millimeter wave band.
  • The microwave properties of biological tissue and other lossy dielectrics. This work is primarily concerned with the measurement and modelling of the permittivity of lossy, layered dielectrics, with a particular interest in the millimeter wave (MMW) band. Applications include the measurement of the complex permittivity of human skin in the MMW band and the detection of defects in composite materials.
  • Waveform design for medium PRF pulse Doppler radars, with special emphasis on the optimisation of PRF set selection.
  • Waveform design – matched target illumination.
  • Radar location of small, rapid projectiles.

Lecture Subjects:

  • Radar Systems
  • Radar Electronic Warfare
  • Microwave Engineering


I lecture on a range of MSc courses, specialist short courses and specialist military courses. This also includes the supervision of MSc project students for their individual research projects and group projects. The teaching work includes course design work, course committee work, setting and marking coursework and examination assessments, attending exam boards and taking tutorial lessons.

Background

GEC - Marconi, Milton Keynes (1985 - 1992) - Microwave Design/Development Senior Engineer, working on Airborne Radar Systems.
SERCO, School of Electronic and Aeronautical Engineering, Arborfield Garrison, Nr Reading (1992 – 1998) - Lecturer to REME technicians and artificers in Radar and Microwave Engineering.
Joined Cranfield University, Shrivenham in January 1998 as a lecturer within the department of Aerospace, Power and Sensors (now part of the Dept. Informatics & Sensors). Lectures in radar and RF/Microwave engineering.


Education/Qualifications:


PhD Cranfield University, Shrivenham, 2004
BSc (Hons) Physics with Microelectronics University College of Swansea (1982 - 1985) Fishguard Comprehensive School (1975 - 1982)
C.Eng (Chartered Engineer)
M.Inst.P (Member of the Institute of Physics)
C. Phys (Chartered Physicist)

Selected publications

Publications - Books:


“Pulse Doppler Radar”, Scitech IN PRESS (19 Chapters, single author)

Publications - Journals:

  1. “Medium PRF radar PRF Selection Using Evolutionary Algorithms” C.M. Alabaster, E.J. Hughes & J.H. Matthew, IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Vol. 39, No.3, July 2003, pp. 990-1001.
  2.  “Permittivity of Human Skin in the Millimetre Wave Band” C.M. Alabaster, IEE Electronics Letters, Vol. 39, No. 21, 16th Oct 2003, pp. 1521-2.
  3. “Performance Comparison of PRF Schedules for Medium PRF Radar” D. A. Wiley, S. M. Parry, C.M. Alabaster and E. J. Hughes, IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems. Vol. 42, No. 2, Apr 2006, pp.  601 - 611.
  4. “Damage and Defect Detection in Planar Composites Using Millimeter Wave Permittivity Measurement” C. M. Alabaster, J. S. Dahele and R. A. Badcock, Materials Evaluation, Vol. 64, No. 2, Feb 2006, pp. 129 – 134.
  5. “The Measurement of the Reflection and Transmission Properties of Conducting Fabrics to Milli-Metric Wave Frequencies” C. Oxley, J. Williams, R. Hopper, H. Flora, D. Eibeck and C. Alabaster, IET Proc Science, Measurement and Technology, Vol. 1, No. 3, 2007, pp. 166 – 169.
  6. “Radar Target Transfer Functions and Their Application to Automatic Target Recognition and Matched Illumination Detection”, Clive M. Alabaster, Francesco Soldani and James W. Hyde, Journal of Battlefield Technology, Vol. 12, No. 2, July 2009, pp. 39 – 46.
  7. “An Examination of the Effect of Array Weighting Function on Radar Target Detectability”, C. M. Alabaster, E. J. Hughes, IEEE Trans. Aerospace and Electronic Systems, vol. 46, No. 3, pp. 1364-1375, July 2010.
  8. “Real Time Reconstruction of 3D Cylindrical Near Field Radar Images using a Single Instruction Multiple Data Interpolation Approach”, Daniel Flores-Tapia, Clive M. Alabaster and Stephen Pistorius, IET Radar, Sonar & Navigation ACCEPTED


Publications - Conferences:

  1. “Medium PRF Radar PRF Optimisation Using Evolutionary Algorithms” C.M. Alabaster, E.J. Hughes, Proc. Radar 2003, Huntsville, Al, 5th to 9th May 2003
  2. “Free Space Measurement of Permittivity” C.M Alabaster & J.S. Dahele, Proc. ICAP2003, Exeter, UK, 31st March to 3rd April 2003
  3. “Novel PRF Schedules for Medium PRF Radar” C.M. Alabaster & E.J. Hughes, Proc. Radar 2003, Adelaide, 3rd - 5th Sept. 2003.
  4. “Medium PRF Schedules for Airborne Fire Control Radar” C.M. Alabaster, E. J. Hughes, S. M. Parry, D. A. Wiley, J. H. Matthew, P. G. Davies, Proc. IEE Waveform Diversity & Design, Edinburgh, 8th – 10th November 2004.
  5. “Permittivity Measurements on Human Skin in the Millimetre Wave Band”, C. M. Alabaster, Proc. ICECom 2005, Dubrovnik, 12th – 14th October 2005.
  6. “The Design of Medium PRF Radar Schedules For Optimum Detectability in Diverse Clutter Scenes” C. M. Alabaster & E. J. Hughes, Proc. IEEE Waveform Diversity & Design, Lihue, Kaua’i, HI, USA, 22nd – 27th January 2006.
  7. “The Benefits of Matched Illumination for Radar Detection of Ground Based Vehicles in Clutter” F. Soldani, C. M. Alabaster, Proc. Waveform Diversity & Design, Pisa, Italy, 4th – 8th June 200
  8. “The Dependence of Radar Target Detectability on Array Weighting Function”, C. M. Alabaster & E. J. Hughes, Proc. Radar 2007, Edinburgh, UK, 15th – 18th October 2007.
  9. “Radar Based Automatic Target System”, G. Dingley, C. M. Alabaster, IEEE 4th International Conference on Waveform Diversity and Design, Orlando, FL, USA, 8th – 13th  February 2009.
  10. “Study of dielectric properties of human skin in millimeter wave range and its correlation with physiological condition”, Svetlana von Gratowski, Vjacheslav Meriakri, Clive Alabaster, BioEM 2009 conference, Davos, Switzerland, 14th – 19 th June 2009.
  11. “The Metrication of Low Probability of Intercept Waveforms”, C. Fancey & C.M. Alabaster, Proc. IEEE 5th International Conference on Waveform Diversity & Design, Niagara Falls, ON, Canada, 8th – 13th August 2010.
  12.  “Radar as a tool for conservation ecology: applications, utility and refinements”, Forman, D., Alabaster, C., Hughes, E., Neyland, P., Roberts, L., Grieg, C. & Harris, W., SEC Conference, Birmingham, UK, 4th – 7th September 2011.
  13. “Is it a Bird or is it a Plane?”, Clive M. Alabaster, Evan J. Hughes, Proc. IEEE 6th International Conference on Waveform Diversity & Design, Lihue, HI, 22nd – 27th January 2012.  IN PR
  14. “Arbitrary Pulsed Radar Waveform”, Clive M. Alabaster, Evan J. Hughes, Proc. IEEE 6th International Conference on Waveform Diversity & Design, Lihue, HI, 22nd – 27th January 2012.  IN PRESS.

 

Other Publications (non-refereed)

  1. “Automatic Target Recognition: The Problems of Data Separability and Decision Making”, E J Hughes, M Lewis, C M Alabaster, Lt F Soldani, Cranfield University, UK, The Institution of Engineering and Technology Seminar on High Resolution Imaging and Target Classification 21st November, 2006, Savoy Place, London, UK
  2. “Clutter Mapping for Airborne Pulse Doppler Radar”, C.M. Alabaster, E.J. Hughes, IET Clutter Modelling seminar, 19th February 2008, Savoy Place, London, UK
    A link to a TV recording of this presentation is provided here:
  3. “Correlation of Target Transfer Functions and Range Profiles as a Function of Aspect Angle and Resolution”, J. W Hyde, C. M. Alabaster, IET Waveform Diversity and Digital Radar Conference, 8-9th December 2008, Savoy Place, London, UK
  4.  “Recent Advances in Medium PRF Pulse Doppler Radar”, Invited paper at NATO Conference on Defence Sensors Technology, Brussels, 3/4 November 2009.
  5. “Comparison of Software Tools for the Design of Microwave Components”, R. Jenkins, Y. Xu, R. Roy, C. Alabaster, K. Harris, S. Jenkins and N. Mead, ARMMS, Milton Hill House, Steventon, Oxfordshire, UK, 4th, 5th April 2011.
  6. “Methodologies for achieving High Reliability in Microwave Electronics Design”, R. Jenkins, Y. Xu, K. Harris, C. Alabaster, S. Jenkins, N. Mead and R. Roy, MIMAR, Cambridge, UK, 17th – 19th April 2011.

    Miscellaneous
  • Co-chair of IEE one-day conference on “Military Radar”, Whitworth Conference Centre, Cranfield University, Shrivenham, UK, 7th September 2004.
  • Key Note speaker at NATO Set-069 workshop MATRIX 2005 “The Who, What, Where and When of Radar Targeting”, NATO SHAPE School, Oberammergau, Germany, 10th – 12th May 2005.
  • “Radar Waveforms” tutorial delivered at IEE Waveform Diversity & Design, Edinburgh, 8th – 10th November 2004, Lihue, Kaua’i, HI, USA, Jan 2006 and Pisa, Italy, 4th – 8th June 2007.
  • “Pulse Doppler Radar Waveforms” tutorial delivered at IEEE International Conference on Waveform Diversity and Design, Orlando, FL, USA, 8th – 13th Feb 2009 and Niagara Falls, ON, Canada, 8th – 13th August 2010..
  • Consultant to Granada TV on WARPLANE, July – Oct. 2005.
    Consultant to Waddell Media (for Discovery Channel) on FUTURE WEAPONS, March 2006.
  • Session chair at the 4th International Conference on Waveform Diversity and Design, Orlando, FL, USA, 8th – 13th Feb 2009.