Evaluation of radar cross section in aerial operations by using POFACETS for a standard unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

Abstract

In military and common applications, radar assumes an exceptionally noteworthy job in exploring the vehicle, recognizing for flying machines, ships and so on. Radar cross section is a measure of a target's ability to reflect radar signals in the direction of the receiver. It is obvious that RCS depends on the shape of the reflecting objects. In this paper, a brief overview of various radars used in surveillance applications and radar cross section (RCS) measurement techniques are presented. The objective of this paper is to illustrate methods for obtaining the Radar Cross Section (RCS) of a typical Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for various frequencies in radar bands. UAV technologies have advanced tremendously and are being developed successfully. These features lead UAV to patrol even in civil airspace for civilian applications. These objects operate with small radar cross-section and/or on low altitude which imposes security threat. Keeping this view the RCS of a UAV which are flying in civilian airspace has to be determined drastically for security purposes. Several shapes are considered for the estimation of RCS. The results on the variations of RCS for the above objects as a function of frequency, aspect angle are presented. The POFACETS plays a crucial role and provides the user an easy–to–use GUI that allows the input of all necessary parameters, while preventing erroneous data input and other user errors. In this paper the RCS of sphere, ellipsoid and UAV are determined.