Design and Implementation of an Outdoors Scattering Measurement Range for Full-Scale Targets

A novel RCS measurement system is presented in this work. The measurement technique is based on scanning the target along a 2D-plane. In order to maintain a reasonable size of the test range, the measurement is performed in the near-field region. Beside, the target is located on the floor, avoiding to place full-scale targets on a positioner or pylon. In this context, a complete post-processing method is developed to evaluate the far-field static radar cross-section from the near-field observations. Firstly, 3-D Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar images are computed. Then, scattering centers are extracted which are used for the direct evaluation of the RCS. Due to the vertical scan capability of the system, the ground-plane effects can be identified and suppressed. Different techniques are also embedded in the post-processing methodology to compensate the distortion produced by: antenna radiation pattern, hardware gating and mechanical deviations of the system. Results obtained by simulation and by measured data obtained with a real implementation of the system are presented, illustrating the accuracy and potential of the approach.