Accession Number:

ADA551781

Title:

Full-wave Characterization of Rough Terrain Surface Effects for Forward-looking Radar Applications: A Scattering and Imaging Study from the Electromagnetic Perspective

Descriptive Note:

Final rept. 2010-2011

Corporate Author:

ARMY RESEARCH LAB ADELPHI MD SENSORS AND ELECTRON DEVICES DIRECTORATE

Personal Author(s):

• Liao, DaHan

Report Date:

2011-09-01

Pagination or Media Count:

48.0

Abstract:

The performance of ultra-wideband UWB radar systems suffers from reflections between frontend components caused by impedance mismatch. The Synchronous Impulse Reconstruction SIRE radar built by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory ARL is no exception. While most of the radio frequency RF energy in each impulse is transmitted by the radar as desired, a portion of the RF energy reflects within the radar frontend. Undesired impulse echoes arrive back at the transmit antennas and are emitted from the radar. These undesired transmissions reflect from the radar environment and produce echoes in the radar image. The proposed solution for eliminating these echoes is to dissipate impulse reflections in a matched load before they are emitted. A high-speed switch directs the desired impulse to the antenna and redirects the undesired reflection from the antenna to a matched load. This report reviews the current SIRE frontend design and describes the solution for eliminating the echoes. The consequences of inserting each portion of the new circuit into the radar frontend are explained. Measurements on the new frontend show an attenuation of the undesired impulse transmissions of more than 18 dB at the expense of an attenuation in the desired impulse transmission of less than 3 dB.

Descriptors:

• *RADAR
• ELECTROMAGNETIC PROPERTIES
• FINITE DIFFERENCE TIME DOMAIN
• FORWARD LOOKING
• MONTE CARLO METHOD
• RADAR IMAGES
• SCATTERING
• SURFACE ROUGHNESS
• TERRAIN

Subject Categories:

• Active and Passive Radar Detection and Equipment

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE