On the Performance of the Range Imaging Technique Estimated Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles During the ShUREX 2015 Campaign

Abstract

For the first time, the performance of the range imaging technique of the very high frequency band middle and upper atmosphere (MU) radar (Shigaraki observatory, Japan), when using frequency diversity, is assessed. This is done by the detection of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) operated near the radar during the Shigaraki UAV radar experiment campaign, carried out from June 1, 2015 to June 14, 2015. During this campaign devoted to the measurements of fine-scale turbulence and stability in the lower troposphere using the turbulence sensors on the DataHawk UAV and the MU radar, the detection of the small UAV by the MU radar provided an excellent opportunity for taking stock of the range imaging technique in the presence of a single hard target. It was found that range imaging reproduces a faithful image of the aircraft position and its displacements with an excellent accuracy (of the order of ~10 m), giving extra credence to the thin echo layers and their vertical displacements generally observed from the range imaging technique in stably stratified conditions.