Richard Klemm
- Awards
- IEEE Dennis J. Picard Medal
Biography
Considered one of the most influential scientists researching space-time adaptive processing (STAP) for radar systems, Richard Klemm’s development and advancement of STAP algorithms have enabled powerful airborne and space-based radar technologies that form the backbone of current intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance systems. STAP is a signal processing technique that incorporates adaptive processing algorithms to aid in target detection in the presence of ground clutter, jamming, and other interference. During a career spanning almost 50 years, Klemm’s main areas of research have focused on adaptive clutter and jammer suppression for stationary as well as moving radar, array processing for active and passive sonar with an emphasis on matched field processing for shallow water applications, and detection of moving targets by moving sensor platforms. He helped evolve STAP from an academic curiosity into a practical technique and provided the foundations for today’s radar and sonar communities.
His scientific achievements are thoroughly documented in several books, which have become essential texts for scientists and engineers working in the field: Space Time Adaptive Processing: Principles and Applications (1998), Principles of Space-time Adaptive Processing (2002), and Applications of Space-time Adaptive Processing (2004). In cooperation with five renowned experts, he edited the two-volume book Novel Radar Techniques and Applications (2017). Klemm helped found the European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar (EUSAR) and served as chair of its first meeting in 1996. Considered the leading international SAR conference, through EUSAR Klemm has changed the way in which SAR researchers and engineers meet and exchange ideas. He has also impacted the development of advanced radar signal processing technologies across North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries through his initiation and support of NATO Science and Technology Organization groups. A passionate classical pianist, Klemm combines his profession and hobby through “Science and Music” recitals he performs at technical conferences.
Recipient of the NATO Research and Technology Organization von Kármán medal (2004), Klemm is a senior scientist (retired) with the Fraunhofer Institute for High Frequency Physics and Radar Techniques, Wachtberg, Germany.
