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97-484: Carbon-fibre composite materials make up the bulk of the Condor's fuselage and wings. Although the Condor has a relatively low radar cross-section and infrared signature , it is not unobservable, making it too vulnerable for military use. The Condor is completely robotic, with an onboard computer to communicate with the computers on the ground via satellite to control all facets of the Condor's missions. The Condor's frame

194-427: A Leontovich impedance boundary condition (see also Electrical impedance ). This is the ratio of the tangential electric field to the tangential magnetic field on the surface, and ignores fields propagating along the surface within the coating. This is particularly convenient when using boundary element method calculations. The surface impedance can be calculated and tested separately. For an isotropic surface

291-470: A fractal surface, such as rocks or soil, and are used by navigation radars. A radar beam follows a linear path in vacuum but follows a somewhat curved path in atmosphere due to variation in the refractive index of air, which is called the radar horizon . Even when the beam is emitted parallel to the ground, the beam rises above the ground as the curvature of the Earth sinks below the horizon. Furthermore,

388-404: A transmitter producing electromagnetic waves in the radio or microwaves domain, a transmitting antenna , a receiving antenna (often the same antenna is used for transmitting and receiving) and a receiver and processor to determine properties of the objects. Radio waves (pulsed or continuous) from the transmitter reflect off the objects and return to the receiver, giving information about

485-424: A transmitter that emits radio waves known as radar signals in predetermined directions. When these signals contact an object they are usually reflected or scattered in many directions, although some of them will be absorbed and penetrate into the target. Radar signals are reflected especially well by materials of considerable electrical conductivity —such as most metals, seawater , and wet ground. This makes

582-840: A common noun, losing all capitalization . The modern uses of radar are highly diverse, including air and terrestrial traffic control, radar astronomy , air-defense systems , anti-missile systems , marine radars to locate landmarks and other ships, aircraft anti-collision systems, ocean surveillance systems, outer space surveillance and rendezvous systems, meteorological precipitation monitoring, radar remote sensing , altimetry and flight control systems , guided missile target locating systems, self-driving cars , and ground-penetrating radar for geological observations. Modern high tech radar systems use digital signal processing and machine learning and are capable of extracting useful information from very high noise levels. Other systems which are similar to radar make use of other parts of

679-482: A different dielectric constant or diamagnetic constant from the first, the waves will reflect or scatter from the boundary between the materials. This means that a solid object in air or in a vacuum , or a significant change in atomic density between the object and what is surrounding it, will usually scatter radar (radio) waves from its surface. This is particularly true for electrically conductive materials such as metal and carbon fibre, making radar well-suited to

776-540: A full radar system, that he called a telemobiloscope . It operated on a 50 cm wavelength and the pulsed radar signal was created via a spark-gap. His system already used the classic antenna setup of horn antenna with parabolic reflector and was presented to German military officials in practical tests in Cologne and Rotterdam harbour but was rejected. In 1915, Robert Watson-Watt used radio technology to provide advance warning of thunderstorms to airmen and during

873-749: A physics instructor at the Imperial Russian Navy school in Kronstadt , developed an apparatus using a coherer tube for detecting distant lightning strikes. The next year, he added a spark-gap transmitter . In 1897, while testing this equipment for communicating between two ships in the Baltic Sea , he took note of an interference beat caused by the passage of a third vessel. In his report, Popov wrote that this phenomenon might be used for detecting objects, but he did nothing more with this observation. The German inventor Christian Hülsmeyer

970-498: A proposal for further intensive research on radio-echo signals from moving targets to take place at NRL, where Taylor and Young were based at the time. Similarly, in the UK, L. S. Alder took out a secret provisional patent for Naval radar in 1928. W.A.S. Butement and P. E. Pollard developed a breadboard test unit, operating at 50 cm (600 MHz) and using pulsed modulation which gave successful laboratory results. In January 1931,

1067-732: A pulsed system, and the first such elementary apparatus was demonstrated in December 1934 by the American Robert M. Page , working at the Naval Research Laboratory . The following year, the United States Army successfully tested a primitive surface-to-surface radar to aim coastal battery searchlights at night. This design was followed by a pulsed system demonstrated in May 1935 by Rudolf Kühnhold and

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1164-406: A radar system with a given target to be analysed independent of the radar and engagement parameters. In general, RCS is a function of the orientation of the radar and target. A target's RCS depends on its size, reflectivity of its surface, and the directivity of the radar return caused by the target's geometric shape. As a rule, the larger an object, the stronger its radar reflection and thus

1261-436: A range eliminates the need for placing radar absorbers behind the target, however multi-path interactions with the ground must be mitigated. An anechoic chamber is also commonly used. In such a room, the target is placed on a rotating pillar in the center, and the walls, floors and ceiling are covered by stacks of radar absorbing material. These absorbers prevent corruption of the measurement due to reflections. A compact range

1358-514: A related quantity called the normalized radar cross-section ( NRCS ), also known as differential scattering coefficient or radar backscatter coefficient , denoted σ or σ 0 ("sigma nought"), which is the average radar cross-section of a set of objects per unit area: where: The NRCS has units of area per area, or ⁠ m / m ⁠ in MKS units. Informally, the RCS of an object

1455-442: A rescue. For similar reasons, objects intended to avoid detection will not have inside corners or surfaces and edges perpendicular to likely detection directions, which leads to "odd" looking stealth aircraft . These precautions do not totally eliminate reflection because of diffraction , especially at longer wavelengths. Half wavelength long wires or strips of conducting material, such as chaff , are very reflective but do not direct

1552-412: A spherical target), and the RCS is a hypothetical area. In this light, RCS can be viewed as a correction factor that makes the radar equation "work out right" for the experimentally observed ratio of P r / P t {\textstyle P_{r}/P_{t}} . However, RCS is a property of the target alone and may be measured or calculated. Thus, RCS allows the performance of

1649-425: A surface could contain indentations that act as corner reflectors which would increase RCS from many orientations. This could arise from open bomb-bays , engine intakes, ordnance pylons, joints between constructed sections, etc. Also, it can be impractical to coat these surfaces with radar-absorbent materials . The size of a target's image on radar is measured by the radar cross section or RCS, often represented by

1746-677: A system might do, Wilkins recalled the earlier report about aircraft causing radio interference. This revelation led to the Daventry Experiment of 26 February 1935, using a powerful BBC shortwave transmitter as the source and their GPO receiver setup in a field while a bomber flew around the site. When the plane was clearly detected, Hugh Dowding , the Air Member for Supply and Research , was very impressed with their system's potential and funds were immediately provided for further operational development. Watson-Watt's team patented

1843-409: A target can be detected for a given radar configuration varies with the fourth root of its RCS. Therefore, in order to cut the detection distance to one tenth, the RCS should be reduced by a factor of 10,000. While this degree of improvement is challenging, it is often possible when influencing platforms during the concept/design stage and using experts and advanced computer code simulations to implement

1940-569: A variety of analytic and numerical methods, but changing levels of military interest and the need for secrecy have made the field challenging, nonetheless. The field of solving Maxwell's equations through numerical algorithms is called computational electromagnetics , and many effective analysis methods have been applied to the RCS prediction problem. RCS prediction software are often run on large supercomputers and employ high-resolution CAD models of real radar targets. High frequency approximations such as geometric optics , physical optics ,

2037-492: A very thin layer of metal can make an object strongly radar reflective. Chaff is often made from metallised plastic or glass (in a similar manner to metallised foils on food stuffs) with microscopically thin layers of metal. Also, some devices are designed to be Radar active, such as radar antennas and this will increase RCS. The SR-71 Blackbird and other aircraft were painted with a special " iron ball paint " that consisted of small metallic-coated balls. Radar energy received

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2134-514: A wide region and direct fighter aircraft towards targets. Marine radars are used to measure the bearing and distance of ships to prevent collision with other ships, to navigate, and to fix their position at sea when within range of shore or other fixed references such as islands, buoys, and lightships. In port or in harbour, vessel traffic service radar systems are used to monitor and regulate ship movements in busy waters. Meteorologists use radar to monitor precipitation and wind. It has become

2231-907: A writeup on the apparatus was entered in the Inventions Book maintained by the Royal Engineers. This is the first official record in Great Britain of the technology that was used in coastal defence and was incorporated into Chain Home as Chain Home (low) . Before the Second World War , researchers in the United Kingdom, France , Germany , Italy , Japan , the Netherlands , the Soviet Union , and

2328-440: Is a measure of how detectable an object is by radar . A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected. An object reflects a limited amount of radar energy back to the source. The factors that influence this include: While important in detecting targets, strength of emitter and distance are not factors that affect the calculation of an RCS because RCS is a property of the target's reflectivity. Radar cross-section

2425-452: Is a simplification for transmission in a vacuum without interference. The propagation factor accounts for the effects of multipath and shadowing and depends on the details of the environment. In a real-world situation, pathloss effects are also considered. Frequency shift is caused by motion that changes the number of wavelengths between the reflector and the radar. This can degrade or enhance radar performance depending upon how it affects

2522-443: Is an anechoic chamber with a reflector to simulate far field conditions. Typical values for a centimeter wave radar are: Quantitatively, RCS is calculated in three-dimensions as Where σ {\displaystyle \sigma } is the RCS, S i {\displaystyle S_{i}} is the incident power density measured at the target, and S s {\displaystyle S_{s}}

2619-451: Is as follows, where F D {\displaystyle F_{D}} is Doppler frequency, F T {\displaystyle F_{T}} is transmit frequency, V R {\displaystyle V_{R}} is radial velocity, and C {\displaystyle C} is the speed of light: Passive radar is applicable to electronic countermeasures and radio astronomy as follows: Only

2716-428: Is chiefly important in stealth technology for aircraft, missiles, ships, and other military vehicles. With smaller RCS, vehicles can better evade radar detection, whether it be from land-based installations, guided weapons or other vehicles. Reduced signature design also improves platforms' overall survivability through the improved effectiveness of its radar counter-measures. Several methods exist. The distance at which

2813-474: Is converted to heat rather than being reflected. The surfaces of the F-117A are designed to be flat and very angled. This has the effect that radar will be incident at a large angle (to the normal ray ) that will then bounce off at a similarly high reflected angle; it is forward-scattered. The edges are sharp to prevent rounded surfaces which are normal at some point to the radar source. As any ray incident along

2910-704: Is extremely difficult due to the complex processing requirements and the difficulty of predicting the exact nature of the reflected radar signal over a broad aspect of an aircraft, missile or other target. Radar absorbent material (RAM) can be used in the original construction, or as an addition to highly reflective surfaces. There are at least three types of RAM: resonant, non-resonant magnetic and non-resonant large volume. Thin coatings made of only dielectrics and conductors have very limited absorbing bandwidth, so magnetic materials are used when weight and cost permit, either in resonant RAM or as non-resonant RAM. Thin non-resonant or broad resonance coatings can be modeled with

3007-567: Is intended. Radar relies on its own transmissions rather than light from the Sun or the Moon, or from electromagnetic waves emitted by the target objects themselves, such as infrared radiation (heat). This process of directing artificial radio waves towards objects is called illumination , although radio waves are invisible to the human eye as well as optical cameras. If electromagnetic waves travelling through one material meet another material, having

Boeing Condor - Misplaced Pages Continue

3104-510: Is made of mainly carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer composite, with very low radar and heat signatures. The Condor had a 141-hour flight test program and first flew on 9 October 1988, with two built. In 1989, the Condor set the world piston-powered aircraft altitude record of 67,028 ft (20,430 m) and was the first aircraft to fly a fully automated flight from takeoff to landing . It also set an unofficial endurance world record in 1988 by flying continuously for more than 50 hours, though

3201-453: Is the cross-sectional area of a perfectly reflecting sphere that would produce the same strength reflection as would the object in question. (Bigger sizes of this imaginary sphere would produce stronger reflections.) Thus, RCS is an abstraction: the radar cross-sectional area of an object does not necessarily bear a direct relationship with the physical cross-sectional area of that object but depends upon other factors. Somewhat less informally,

3298-417: Is the range. This yields: This shows that the received power declines as the fourth power of the range, which means that the received power from distant targets is relatively very small. Additional filtering and pulse integration modifies the radar equation slightly for pulse-Doppler radar performance , which can be used to increase detection range and reduce transmit power. The equation above with F = 1

3395-409: Is the scattered power density seen at a distance r {\displaystyle r} away from the target. In electromagnetic analysis this is also commonly written as where E s {\displaystyle E_{s}} and E i {\displaystyle E_{i}} are the far field scattered and incident electric field intensities, respectively. In

3492-490: Is to utilize metasurfaces which can redirect scattered waves without altering the geometry of the target. Such metasurfaces can primarily be classified in two categories: (i) Checkerboard metasurfaces, (ii) Gradient index metasurfaces. With active cancellation, the target generates a radar signal equal in intensity but opposite in phase to the predicted reflection of an incident radar signal (similarly to noise canceling ear phones). This creates destructive interference between

3589-474: Is used to detect airplanes in a wide variation of ranges. For example, a stealth aircraft (which is designed to have low detectability) will have design features that give it a low RCS (such as absorbent paint, flat surfaces, surfaces specifically angled to reflect the signal somewhere other than towards the source), as opposed to a passenger airliner that will have a high RCS (bare metal, rounded surfaces effectively guaranteed to reflect some signal back to

3686-589: The F-117A Nighthawk stealth attack aircraft. This aircraft, designed in the late 1970s though only revealed to the public in 1988, uses a multitude of flat surfaces to reflect incident radar energy away from the source. Yue suggests that limited available computing power for the design phase kept the number of surfaces to a minimum. The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber benefited from increased computing power, enabling its contoured shapes and further reduction in RCS. The F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II continue

3783-628: The Nyquist frequency , since the returned frequency otherwise cannot be distinguished from shifting of a harmonic frequency above or below, thus requiring: Or when substituting with F D {\displaystyle F_{D}} : As an example, a Doppler weather radar with a pulse rate of 2 kHz and transmit frequency of 1 GHz can reliably measure weather speed up to at most 150 m/s (340 mph), thus cannot reliably determine radial velocity of aircraft moving 1,000 m/s (2,200 mph). In all electromagnetic radiation ,

3880-717: The RAF's Pathfinder . The information provided by radar includes the bearing and range (and therefore position) of the object from the radar scanner. It is thus used in many different fields where the need for such positioning is crucial. The first use of radar was for military purposes: to locate air, ground and sea targets. This evolved in the civilian field into applications for aircraft, ships, and automobiles. In aviation , aircraft can be equipped with radar devices that warn of aircraft or other obstacles in or approaching their path, display weather information, and give accurate altitude readings. The first commercial device fitted to aircraft

3977-437: The boundary element method ( method of moments ), finite difference time domain method ( FDTD ) and finite element methods are limited by computer performance to longer wavelengths or smaller features. Though, for simple cases, the wavelength ranges of these two types of method overlap considerably, for difficult shapes and materials or very high accuracy they are combined in various sorts of hybrid method . RCS reduction

Boeing Condor - Misplaced Pages Continue

4074-440: The electromagnetic spectrum . One example is lidar , which uses predominantly infrared light from lasers rather than radio waves. With the emergence of driverless vehicles, radar is expected to assist the automated platform to monitor its environment, thus preventing unwanted incidents. As early as 1886, German physicist Heinrich Hertz showed that radio waves could be reflected from solid objects. In 1895, Alexander Popov ,

4171-457: The geometric theory of diffraction , the uniform theory of diffraction and the physical theory of diffraction are used when the wavelength is much shorter than the target feature size. Statistical models include chi-square , Rice , and the log-normal target models. These models are used to predict likely values of the RCS given an average value, and are useful when running radar Monte Carlo simulations. Purely numerical methods such as

4268-407: The reflective surfaces . A corner reflector consists of three flat surfaces meeting like the inside corner of a cube. The structure will reflect waves entering its opening directly back to the source. They are commonly used as radar reflectors to make otherwise difficult-to-detect objects easier to detect. Corner reflectors on boats, for example, make them more detectable to avoid collision or during

4365-534: The "new boy" Arnold Frederic Wilkins to conduct an extensive review of available shortwave units. Wilkins would select a General Post Office model after noting its manual's description of a "fading" effect (the common term for interference at the time) when aircraft flew overhead. By placing a transmitter and receiver on opposite sides of the Potomac River in 1922, U.S. Navy researchers A. Hoyt Taylor and Leo C. Young discovered that ships passing through

4462-413: The 1920s went on to lead the U.K. research establishment to make many advances using radio techniques, including the probing of the ionosphere and the detection of lightning at long distances. Through his lightning experiments, Watson-Watt became an expert on the use of radio direction finding before turning his inquiry to shortwave transmission. Requiring a suitable receiver for such studies, he told

4559-410: The RCS of a radar target is an effective area that intercepts the transmitted radar power and then scatters that power isotropically back to the radar receiver. More precisely, the RCS of a radar target is the hypothetical area required to intercept the transmitted power density at the target such that if the total intercepted power were re-radiated isotropically, the power density actually observed at

4656-406: The RCS relates to the two scattering phenomena that takes place at the antenna. When an electromagnetic signal falls on an antenna surface, some part of the electromagnetic energy is scattered back to the space. This is called structural mode scattering. The remaining part of the energy is absorbed due to the antenna effect. Some part of the absorbed energy is again scattered back into the space due to

4753-787: The United States, independently and in great secrecy, developed technologies that led to the modern version of radar. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South Africa followed prewar Great Britain's radar development, Hungary and Sweden generated its radar technology during the war. In France in 1934, following systematic studies on the split-anode magnetron , the research branch of the Compagnie générale de la télégraphie sans fil (CSF) headed by Maurice Ponte with Henri Gutton, Sylvain Berline and M. Hugon, began developing an obstacle-locating radio apparatus, aspects of which were installed on

4850-415: The anisotropic surface impedance, aligned with edges and/or the radar direction. A perfect electric conductor has more back scatter from a leading edge for the linear polarization with the electric field parallel to the edge and more from a trailing edge with the electric field perpendicular to the edge, so the high surface impedance should be parallel to leading edges and perpendicular to trailing edges, for

4947-537: The arrest of Oshchepkov and his subsequent gulag sentence. In total, only 607 Redut stations were produced during the war. The first Russian airborne radar, Gneiss-2 , entered into service in June 1943 on Pe-2 dive bombers. More than 230 Gneiss-2 stations were produced by the end of 1944. The French and Soviet systems, however, featured continuous-wave operation that did not provide the full performance ultimately synonymous with modern radar systems. Full radar evolved as

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5044-479: The beam path caused the received signal to fade in and out. Taylor submitted a report, suggesting that this phenomenon might be used to detect the presence of ships in low visibility, but the Navy did not immediately continue the work. Eight years later, Lawrence A. Hyland at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) observed similar fading effects from passing aircraft; this revelation led to a patent application as well as

5141-421: The control options described below. With purpose shaping, the shape of the target's reflecting surfaces is designed such that they reflect energy away from the source. The aim is usually to create a “cone-of-silence” about the target's direction of motion. Due to the energy reflection, this method is defeated by using passive (multistatic) radars . Purpose-shaping can be seen in the design of surface faceting on

5238-410: The design phase, it is often desirable to employ a computer to predict what the RCS will look like before fabricating an actual object. Many iterations of this prediction process can be performed in a short time at low cost, whereas use of a measurement range is often time-consuming, expensive and error-prone. The linearity of Maxwell's equations makes RCS relatively straightforward to calculate with

5335-408: The detection of aircraft and ships. Radar absorbing material , containing resistive and sometimes magnetic substances, is used on military vehicles to reduce radar reflection . This is the radio equivalent of painting something a dark colour so that it cannot be seen by the eye at night. Radar waves scatter in a variety of ways depending on the size (wavelength) of the radio wave and the shape of

5432-476: The detection process. As an example, moving target indication can interact with Doppler to produce signal cancellation at certain radial velocities, which degrades performance. Sea-based radar systems, semi-active radar homing , active radar homing , weather radar , military aircraft, and radar astronomy rely on the Doppler effect to enhance performance. This produces information about target velocity during

5529-411: The detection process. This also allows small objects to be detected in an environment containing much larger nearby slow moving objects. Doppler shift depends upon whether the radar configuration is active or passive. Active radar transmits a signal that is reflected back to the receiver. Passive radar depends upon the object sending a signal to the receiver. The Doppler frequency shift for active radar

5626-626: The device in patent GB593017. Development of radar greatly expanded on 1 September 1936, when Watson-Watt became superintendent of a new establishment under the British Air Ministry , Bawdsey Research Station located in Bawdsey Manor , near Felixstowe, Suffolk. Work there resulted in the design and installation of aircraft detection and tracking stations called " Chain Home " along the East and South coasts of England in time for

5723-407: The diffraction coefficients, with the physical theory of diffraction or other high frequency method, combined with physical optics to include the contributions from illuminated smooth surfaces and Fock calculations to calculate creeping waves circling around any smooth shadowed parts. Optimization is in the reverse order. First one does high frequency calculations to optimize the shape and find

5820-630: The dimensions of power (watts), and represents a hypothetical total power intercepted by the radar target. The second 1 4 π r 2 {\textstyle {{1} \over {4\pi r^{2}}}} term represents isotropic spreading of this intercepted power from the target back to the radar receiver. Thus, the product P t G t 4 π r 2 σ 1 4 π r 2 {\textstyle {{P_{t}G_{t}} \over {4\pi r^{2}}}\sigma {{1} \over {4\pi r^{2}}}} represents

5917-538: The electric field is perpendicular to the direction of propagation, and the electric field direction is the polarization of the wave. For a transmitted radar signal, the polarization can be controlled to yield different effects. Radars use horizontal, vertical, linear, and circular polarization to detect different types of reflections. For example, circular polarization is used to minimize the interference caused by rain. Linear polarization returns usually indicate metal surfaces. Random polarization returns usually indicate

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6014-473: The entire area in front of it, and then used one of Watson-Watt's own radio direction finders to determine the direction of the returned echoes. This fact meant CH transmitters had to be much more powerful and have better antennas than competing systems but allowed its rapid introduction using existing technologies. A key development was the cavity magnetron in the UK, which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. Britain shared

6111-466: The firm GEMA  [ de ] in Germany and then another in June 1935 by an Air Ministry team led by Robert Watson-Watt in Great Britain. In 1935, Watson-Watt was asked to judge recent reports of a German radio-based death ray and turned the request over to Wilkins. Wilkins returned a set of calculations demonstrating the system was basically impossible. When Watson-Watt then asked what such

6208-954: The flight was not ratified by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) and is therefore not considered an official record. During its evaluations, the Condor logged over 300 flight hours, flying over Moses Lake , Washington . The first flight article is now on display in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos , California and the second is disassembled at the USAF Museum's restoration centre in Dayton OH. Data from General characteristics Performance Radar cross-section Radar cross-section ( RCS ), denoted σ, also called radar signature ,

6305-487: The greater its RCS. Also, radar of one band may not even detect certain size objects. For example, 10 cm (S-band radar) can detect rain drops but not clouds whose droplets are too small. Materials such as metal are strongly radar reflective and tend to produce strong signals. Wood and cloth (such as portions of airplanes and balloons used to be commonly made) or plastic and fibreglass are less reflective or indeed transparent to radar making them suitable for radomes . Even

6402-494: The greatest radar threat direction, with some sort of smooth transition between. To calculate the radar cross-section of such a stealth body, one would typically do one-dimensional reflection calculations to calculate the surface impedance, then two dimensional numerical calculations to calculate the diffraction coefficients of edges and small three dimensional calculations to calculate the diffraction coefficients of corners and points. The cross section can then be calculated, using

6499-416: The ideal surface impedance is equal to the 377 ohm impedance of free space . For non-isotropic ( anisotropic ) coatings, the optimal coating depends on the shape of the target and the radar direction, but duality, the symmetry of Maxwell's equations between the electric and magnetic fields, tells one that optimal coatings have η 0 × η 1 = 377 Ω , where η 0 and η 1 are perpendicular components of

6596-435: The impedance mismatches, called antenna mode scattering. For the bistatic radar configuration—transmitter and receiver separated (not co-located) -- the bistatic radar cross-section ( BRCS ) is a function of both the transmitter-target orientation and the receiver-target orientation. A normalized bistatic radar cross-section ( NBRCS ) or bistatic normalized radar cross-section ( BNRCS ) may also be defined, similar to

6693-455: The monostatic NRCS . Radar#Radar range equation Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ( ranging ), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles ), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track aircraft , ships , spacecraft , guided missiles , motor vehicles , map weather formations , and terrain . A radar system consists of

6790-478: The most important features, then small calculations to find the best surface impedances in the problem areas, then reflection calculations to design coatings. Large numerical calculations can run too slowly for numerical optimization or can distract workers from the physics, even when massive computing power is available. For the case of an antenna the total RCS can be divided into two separate components as Structural Mode RCS and Antenna Mode RCS. The two components of

6887-417: The normal will reflect back along the normal, rounded surfaces make for a strong reflected signal. From the side, a fighter aircraft will present a much larger area than the same aircraft viewed from the front. All other factors being equal, the aircraft will have a stronger signal from the side than from the front; hence the orientation of the target relative to the radar station is important. The relief of

6984-638: The objects' locations and speeds. Radar was developed secretly for military use by several countries in the period before and during World War II . A key development was the cavity magnetron in the United Kingdom , which allowed the creation of relatively small systems with sub-meter resolution. The term RADAR was coined in 1940 by the United States Navy as an acronym for "radio detection and ranging". The term radar has since entered English and other languages as an anacronym ,

7081-508: The ocean liner Normandie in 1935. During the same period, Soviet military engineer P.K. Oshchepkov , in collaboration with the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute , produced an experimental apparatus, RAPID, capable of detecting an aircraft within 3 km of a receiver. The Soviets produced their first mass production radars RUS-1 and RUS-2 Redut in 1939 but further development was slowed following

7178-531: The outbreak of World War II in 1939. This system provided the vital advance information that helped the Royal Air Force win the Battle of Britain ; without it, significant numbers of fighter aircraft, which Great Britain did not have available, would always have needed to be in the air to respond quickly. The radar formed part of the " Dowding system " for collecting reports of enemy aircraft and coordinating

7275-415: The physical profile smaller. Rather, by reflecting much of the radiation away or by absorbing it, the target achieves a smaller radar cross section. Measurement of a target's RCS is performed at a radar reflectivity range or scattering range . The first type of range is an outdoor range where the target is positioned on a specially shaped low RCS pylon some distance down-range from the transmitters. Such

7372-706: The primary tool for short-term weather forecasting and watching for severe weather such as thunderstorms , tornadoes , winter storms , precipitation types, etc. Geologists use specialized ground-penetrating radars to map the composition of Earth's crust . Police forces use radar guns to monitor vehicle speeds on the roads. Automotive radars are used for adaptive cruise control and emergency breaking on vehicles by ignoring stationary roadside objects that could cause incorrect brake application and instead measuring moving objects to prevent collision with other vehicles. As part of Intelligent Transport Systems , fixed-position stopped vehicle detection (SVD) radars are mounted on

7469-412: The radar is perpendicular to the flat surface. At off-normal incident angles , energy is reflected away from the receiver, reducing the RCS. Modern stealth aircraft are said to have an RCS comparable with small birds or large insects, though this varies widely depending on aircraft and radar. If the RCS was directly related to the target's cross-sectional area, the only way to reduce it would be to make

7566-417: The radar transmitter produces at the target. This power density is intercepted by the target with radar cross-section σ {\textstyle \sigma } , which has units of area (meters squared). Thus, the product P t G t 4 π r 2 σ {\textstyle {{P_{t}G_{t}} \over {4\pi r^{2}}}\sigma } has

7663-432: The radial component of the velocity is relevant. When the reflector is moving at right angle to the radar beam, it has no relative velocity. Objects moving parallel to the radar beam produce the maximum Doppler frequency shift. When the transmit frequency ( F T {\displaystyle F_{T}} ) is pulsed, using a pulse repeat frequency of F R {\displaystyle F_{R}} ,

7760-426: The receiver is produced. This statement can be understood by examining the monostatic (radar transmitter and receiver co-located) radar equation one term at a time: where The P t G t 4 π r 2 {\textstyle {{P_{t}G_{t}} \over {4\pi r^{2}}}} term in the radar equation represents the power density (watts per meter squared) that

7857-405: The reflected and generated signals, resulting in reduced RCS. To incorporate active cancellation techniques, the precise characteristics of the waveform and angle of arrival of the illuminating radar signal must be known, since they define the nature of generated energy required for cancellation. Except against simple or low frequency radar systems, the implementation of active cancellation techniques

7954-419: The reflected power density at the radar receiver (again watts per meter squared). The receiver antenna then collects this power density with effective area A e f f {\textstyle A_{\mathrm {eff} }} , yielding the power received by the radar (watts) as given by the radar equation above. The scattering of incident radar power by a radar target is never isotropic (even for

8051-414: The response. Given all required funding and development support, the team produced working radar systems in 1935 and began deployment. By 1936, the first five Chain Home (CH) systems were operational and by 1940 stretched across the entire UK including Northern Ireland. Even by standards of the era, CH was crude; instead of broadcasting and receiving from an aimed antenna, CH broadcast a signal floodlighting

8148-410: The resulting frequency spectrum will contain harmonic frequencies above and below F T {\displaystyle F_{T}} with a distance of F R {\displaystyle F_{R}} . As a result, the Doppler measurement is only non-ambiguous if the Doppler frequency shift is less than half of F R {\displaystyle F_{R}} , called

8245-427: The roadside to detect stranded vehicles, obstructions and debris by inverting the automotive radar approach and ignoring moving objects. Smaller radar systems are used to detect human movement . Examples are breathing pattern detection for sleep monitoring and hand and finger gesture detection for computer interaction. Automatic door opening, light activation and intruder sensing are also common. A radar system has

8342-407: The scattered energy back toward the source. The extent to which an object reflects or scatters radio waves is called its radar cross-section . The power P r returning to the receiving antenna is given by the equation: where In the common case where the transmitter and the receiver are at the same location, R t = R r and the term R t ² R r ² can be replaced by R , where R

8439-412: The source, many protrusions like the engines, antennas, etc.). RCS is integral to the development of radar stealth technology , particularly in applications involving aircraft and ballistic missiles . RCS data for current military aircraft is mostly highly classified. In some cases, it is of interest to look at an area on the ground that includes many objects. In those situations, it is useful to use

8536-453: The symbol σ and expressed in square meters. This does not equal geometric area. A perfectly conducting sphere of projected cross sectional area 1 m (i.e. a diameter of 1.13 m) will have an RCS of 1 m . For radar wavelengths much less than the diameter of the sphere, RCS is independent of frequency. Conversely, a square flat plate of area 1 m will have an RCS of σ = 4π A / λ (where A =area, λ =wavelength), or 139.62 m at 1 GHz if

8633-491: The target. If the wavelength is much shorter than the target's size, the wave will bounce off in a way similar to the way light is reflected by a mirror . If the wavelength is much longer than the size of the target, the target may not be visible because of poor reflection. Low-frequency radar technology is dependent on resonances for detection, but not identification, of targets. This is described by Rayleigh scattering , an effect that creates Earth's blue sky and red sunsets. When

8730-585: The technology with the U.S. during the 1940 Tizard Mission . In April 1940, Popular Science showed an example of a radar unit using the Watson-Watt patent in an article on air defence. Also, in late 1941 Popular Mechanics had an article in which a U.S. scientist speculated about the British early warning system on the English east coast and came close to what it was and how it worked. Watson-Watt

8827-879: The transmitter. The reflected radar signals captured by the receiving antenna are usually very weak. They can be strengthened by electronic amplifiers . More sophisticated methods of signal processing are also used in order to recover useful radar signals. The weak absorption of radio waves by the medium through which they pass is what enables radar sets to detect objects at relatively long ranges—ranges at which other electromagnetic wavelengths, such as visible light , infrared light , and ultraviolet light , are too strongly attenuated. Weather phenomena, such as fog, clouds, rain, falling snow, and sleet, that block visible light are usually transparent to radio waves. Certain radio frequencies that are absorbed or scattered by water vapour, raindrops, or atmospheric gases (especially oxygen) are avoided when designing radars, except when their detection

8924-487: The trend in purpose shaping and promise to have even smaller monostatic RCS. This technique is relatively new compared to other techniques chiefly after the invention of metasurfaces . As mentioned earlier, the primary objective in geometry alteration is to redirect scattered waves away from the backscattered direction (or the source). However, it may compromise performance in terms of aerodynamics. One feasible solution, which has extensively been explored in recent time,

9021-487: The two length scales are comparable, there may be resonances . Early radars used very long wavelengths that were larger than the targets and thus received a vague signal, whereas many modern systems use shorter wavelengths (a few centimetres or less) that can image objects as small as a loaf of bread. Short radio waves reflect from curves and corners in a way similar to glint from a rounded piece of glass. The most reflective targets for short wavelengths have 90° angles between

9118-472: The use of radar altimeters possible in certain cases. The radar signals that are reflected back towards the radar receiver are the desirable ones that make radar detection work. If the object is moving either toward or away from the transmitter, there will be a slight change in the frequency of the radio waves due to the Doppler effect . Radar receivers are usually, but not always, in the same location as

9215-608: Was a 1938 Bell Lab unit on some United Air Lines aircraft. Aircraft can land in fog at airports equipped with radar-assisted ground-controlled approach systems in which the plane's position is observed on precision approach radar screens by operators who thereby give radio landing instructions to the pilot, maintaining the aircraft on a defined approach path to the runway. Military fighter aircraft are usually fitted with air-to-air targeting radars, to detect and target enemy aircraft. In addition, larger specialized military aircraft carry powerful airborne radars to observe air traffic over

9312-748: Was sent to the U.S. in 1941 to advise on air defense after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor . Alfred Lee Loomis organized the secret MIT Radiation Laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, Massachusetts which developed microwave radar technology in the years 1941–45. Later, in 1943, Page greatly improved radar with the monopulse technique that was used for many years in most radar applications. The war precipitated research to find better resolution, more portability, and more features for radar, including small, lightweight sets to equip night fighters ( aircraft interception radar ) and maritime patrol aircraft ( air-to-surface-vessel radar ), and complementary navigation systems like Oboe used by

9409-463: Was the first to use radio waves to detect "the presence of distant metallic objects". In 1904, he demonstrated the feasibility of detecting a ship in dense fog, but not its distance from the transmitter. He obtained a patent for his detection device in April 1904 and later a patent for a related amendment for estimating the distance to the ship. He also obtained a British patent on 23 September 1904 for

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