Scientists Test New Radar Method to Detect Small Drones in Lab
Researchers developed a scaled laboratory technique using sub-terahertz radar to image miniature drones and study how radar detects aircraft-sized targets. The breakthrough could help defense contractors and airport operators improve detection systems for small unmanned vehicles, a growing security concern.
Originaltitel: Imaging of Downscaled UAVs via sub-THz 2D Monostatic and Bistatic ISAR Imaging
<p>The development of new radar systems operating at sub-THz and THz frequencies with high-resolution imaging has led to new applications and enabled remote sensing for shortrange applications, such as non-destructive testing or surfaceroughness analysis. Furthermore, these remote-sensing systems open an opportunity to study downscaled real-life scenarios that involve long-range remote sensing in a closed laboratory environment. In this paper, we introduce a method for studying the radar signatures of objects sensed in the far-field region using X band radars, employing a scaled sub-THz 2D inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) system that performs simultaneous monostatic and bistatic radar imaging. The method is experimentally studied via a VNA-based radar system operating at D-band with application to a downscaled model of a 3.3 m -long unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The results demonstrate that the proposed method provides insight into the radar signatures of physically large targets in the laboratory environment. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that monostatic and bistatic imaging provide complementary information on the radar signature of the object under test. </p>