RCS measurements and radar imaging of marine objects

Abstract

Object and purpose of research. This paper discusses the results of experimental studies in radar imaging of marine objects, as well as the measurements of radar cross-section (RCS) and 2D radar portraits in natural conditions as per integrated synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) approach.
 Materials and methods. The measurements were carried out in full-scale conditions using an X-band instrumentation radar. RCS measurements were performed with radar pulse length exceeding the size of an object; the impulse with a length of about 1 m was used to obtain 2D portraits.
 Main results. A qualitative and quantitative comparison of the measurement results with the use of "long" and "short" pulses, as well as the type assessment of statistical RCS distribution of marine object.
 Conclusion. The studies made it possible to confirm the previously proposed theory that average RCS of a marine object may be derived through RCS summation of all its local sources. The closeness of the statistical RCS distribution for a marine object to the lognormal distribution was also experimentally confirmed.