Measurement and evaluation of radar cross section for furniture in an indoor propagation channel

M M Maw,P Supanakoon,S Promwong,J Takada

doi:10.5194/ars-12-273-2014

Abstract

Abstract. This paper has attempted to evaluate the radar cross section (RCS) of two furniture items in an indoor environment in a frequency range of 3–7 GHz of the ultra-wideband (UWB) range. The RCS evaluation is achieved through an extended version of the radar equation that incorporates the channel transfer function of scattering. The time-gating method was applied to remove the multipath effect, a phenomenon which typically occurs in the indoor environment. Two double-ridged waveguide horn antennas for both vertical and horizontal polarizations were used to obtain the transfer function of scattering of the furniture prior to analysis in order to derive their bistatic RCS. The RCS results validate the applicability of the proposed extended radar equation to the indoor propagation prediction.

Highlights

In an indoor environment, scattering targets, e.g., furniture items, walls, or even a human body, have an effect on the total received signal
This research work has adopted the extended version of the radar equation which incorporates the channel transfer function of scattering to evaluate radar cross section (RCS)
To demonstrate the effectiveness of time gating in removing the multipath effect, the comparison between the RCS of the chair without and with time gating is provided

Summary

Introduction

In an indoor environment, scattering targets, e.g., furniture items, walls, or even a human body, have an effect on the total received signal. The diverse effects of different scattering objects on the radio wave propagation warrant examination and analysis. In the case of furniture items, their multi-shape geometry necessitates special treatment to investigate and model their effects on the radio wave propagation. Kishiki and Takada (2008) studied the scattering of buildings in a street microcell environment, and Cheffena (2012) simulated the effect of a moving human body on the statistical channel. This paper measures the channel transfer function of scattering from the furniture items in the indoor environment to obtain the magnitude and phase. M. Maw et al.: Measurement and evaluation of radar cross section for furniture in indoor propagation channel domain, Hsc (f, θi, φi, θs, φs), can be written as. Where Hc (f, θi, φi, θs, φs) is the transfer function in the indoor environment without scattering targets, such as floor, walls, ceiling, and the mutual coupling between Tx and Rx; Ht (f ) is the transfer function of Tx; Hr (f ) is the transfer function of Rx; and Hσ (f, θi, φi, θs, φs) is the channel transfer function of scattering, where σ can be determined from

Theory of RCS evaluation

Experimental evaluation of sample furniture

Experimental results

Conclusions