Comparison of Background Characteristics of an RCS (Radar Cross Section) Measurement Range Using a CW-Nulling Technique and a Pulse-Gating Technique.

This thesis compares the relative performance of a CW-nulling technique versus a pulse-gating technique for radar cross section RCS measurements. The purpose is 1 to provide a detailed comparison of these two systems in terms of system noise figure and systems losses, and 2 to demonstrate the effectiveness of time-separating the target area from the surrounding chamber when using the pulse-gating technique. The pulse-gating system is shown to have far superior system noise figure characteristics than the CW-nulling system. Pulse-gating has only a slightly greater system loss due to the added complexity of the pulse modulating and range gating components. The combined effect is that the pulse-gating technique is capable of improving signal-to-noise, thus increasing the reliability of making accurate RCS measurements.