RADAR CROSS SECTION ANALYSIS OF UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES USING PREDICS

Abstract

In this study, a quantitative radar cross section (RCS) analysis of different unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) models were accomplished by means of a series of RCS simulations. The simulations were carried out by high-frequency RCS simulation and analysis tool called PREDICS. To quantify the RCS features of the UAV model, both the angle-variation and frequency-variation simulations for all polarization excitations were performed. The results of the simulations suggested that RCS values were dramatically varying with respect to look angle with some special angles providing the large values of RCS. Generally, the RCS values of the UAV model was increasing with frequency as expected. A quantitative radar detection range analyses were also accomplished to assess the visibility of both the military-type and civil-type UAV models. The outcome of these studies has suggested that large-size UAV model can be easily detected by a high-sensitive radar on the ranges of tens of kilometers while these numbers reduce to a few kilometers for a civilian UAV model that is much smaller than the its military counterpart.