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Uncertainties in Bistatic RCS Measurements


Affiliations
1 Dept. of ECE, National Institute of Technology, Warangal 506 004, India
2 Research Centre Imarat, DRDO, Hyderabad 500 069, India
 

Radar Cross Section (RCS) is a far field parameter and limited test range length produces error in its measurements. RCS measured with co-located Tx and Rx antennas is termed as monostatic RCS and with spatially separated Tx and Rx antennas as Bistatic RCS (BRCS). Interest in BRCS measurements has grown due to increase in use of multi-static Radars for detecting low-observable targets. In literature BRCS measurement techniques explored are either horn antenna based far field setups or Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) based setups. All the techniques have inherent limitations and errors, which need to be assessed as the information generated plays a decisive role in the design of military platforms. In the present paper, the errors in each measurement technique are obtained through extensive numerical computation and measurements on various canonical as well as complex shapes. The results highlight the effect of the phase curvature in either or both, Tx, and Rx paths, affect the measurement accuracies, thereby limiting the target size and highest frequency of operation of present techniques.

Keywords

Antenna, Compact Antenna Test Ranges, Far Field, Plane Wave, Radar.
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  • Uncertainties in Bistatic RCS Measurements

Abstract Views: 563  |  PDF Views: 111

Authors

Rakesh Kumar Singh
Dept. of ECE, National Institute of Technology, Warangal 506 004, India
D R Jahagirdhar
Research Centre Imarat, DRDO, Hyderabad 500 069, India
N V S N Sarma
Dept. of ECE, National Institute of Technology, Warangal 506 004, India

Abstract


Radar Cross Section (RCS) is a far field parameter and limited test range length produces error in its measurements. RCS measured with co-located Tx and Rx antennas is termed as monostatic RCS and with spatially separated Tx and Rx antennas as Bistatic RCS (BRCS). Interest in BRCS measurements has grown due to increase in use of multi-static Radars for detecting low-observable targets. In literature BRCS measurement techniques explored are either horn antenna based far field setups or Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) based setups. All the techniques have inherent limitations and errors, which need to be assessed as the information generated plays a decisive role in the design of military platforms. In the present paper, the errors in each measurement technique are obtained through extensive numerical computation and measurements on various canonical as well as complex shapes. The results highlight the effect of the phase curvature in either or both, Tx, and Rx paths, affect the measurement accuracies, thereby limiting the target size and highest frequency of operation of present techniques.

Keywords


Antenna, Compact Antenna Test Ranges, Far Field, Plane Wave, Radar.

References