Accuracy characteristics of object location in a two-position system of small onboard radars

Abstract

Introduction: The search for physical objects in a given area is often performed in automatic mode using small unmanned aerial vehicles equipped with radars. Airborne radar antennas, due to size restrictions, have a small aperture and, accordingly, a wide directional pattern, decreasing the accuracy of determining the angular coordinates of the objects. The increase in the angular coordinate estimation accuracy leads to the increase in the informativeness of such automatic search systems and, consequently, to the increase in the efficiency of their practical use. Purpose: Developing a technique for calculating the parameters of a two-position radar system consisting of two small airborne radars placed on small unmanned aerial vehicles, in order to increase the accuracy of determining the angular coordinates of radiocontrast physical objects. Results: An algorithm is proposed for integrating the data about the coordinates of physical objects detected in the joint coverage area of a two-position system of small airborne radars. It allows you, depending on the observation conditions, to increase the accuracy of determining the azimuthal coordinates by an order of magnitude or more. The aircraft trajectories are calculated on which the accuracy grows, and those on which there is almost no gain in accuracy. Practical relevance: Such two-position airborne small radars can be used in automated systems in order to detect physical object such as people in disaster areas, as well as in systems of collecting and processing data from sensors used for monitoring the state of the environment or man-made objects.