One current automatic target recognition (ATR) approach utilizes synthetic radar data. The success of this approach is highly dependent upon the quality of this synthetic data. It is known that the radar scattering from jet aircraft can have a significant engine contribution. Current numerical techniques to predict the jet engine scattering do not yet provide the desired accuracy. As an alternate approach to numerical prediction, a measurement technique is proposed. Analytic Designs, Incorporated (ADI) will develop a novel near-field measurement technique to provide the plane wave scattering characterization for an engine configuration. This technique will utilize time domain measurements to collect the necessary broad frequency domain information. Transmit and receive probes will be positionally controlled through a specially designed polar scanner designed to facilitate the data acquisition. Unique signal processing techniques will also be employed to minimize the measured samples, thus reducing the acquisition time as well. Once the complete, bistatic aperture distribution has been obtained, any far-field, bistatic plane wave scattering coefficient can be obtained. The commercial ability to perform near-field, bistatic scanning would result in a unique and advanced capability to determine the scattering characteristics of other structures which can not be detached and measured with a traditional compact range approach. This capability has applicability for component evaluation on flight ready aircraft.
Benefits: Near-field scanning techniques are commonly used in many commercial applications involving antenna configurations. These techniques solely involve frequency domain techniques and thus lack the broad frequency bandwidth capability that time domain techniques offer. The proposed technology can be transferred into antenna radiation and scattering application to facilitate design and characterization needs.
