Wideband Measurements of the Forward RCS and the Extinction Cross Section

Summary, in English

This paper describes the development

of a method based on measurements of the radar

cross section (RCS) amplitude and phase in the

forward direction to determine the extinction cross

section for the 2.5 GHz - 38 GHz frequency range

using the optical theorem. Forward RCS

measurements are technically complicated due to

that the direct signal has to be subtracted from the

total signal at the receiving antenna in order to

extract the forward RCS. The efficiency of this

subtraction as a function of time is evaluated. A

traditional calibration method using a calibration

target and a second method that does not require a

calibration target are investigated and compared.

The accuracy of the forward RCS measurements is

determined using small spheres of different sizes.

The spheres have a forward RCS that is straight

forward to calculate with good accuracy. The

method is also extended to polarimetric

measurements on a small helix that are compared

with method-of-moments calculations to validate

the method.

• Author: Christer Larsson; Mats Gustafsson
• Department/s: Department of Electrical and Information Technology
• Publishing year: 2013
• Language: English
• Pages: 1145-1152
• Publication/Series: Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal
• Volume: 28
• Issue: 12
• Links: http://www.aces-society.org/search.php?vol=28&no=12&type=2
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: The Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society
• Topic: Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering
• Keywords: Bistatic; calibration; extinction cross section; forward RCS; measurement; method of moments; and polarimetry.
• Status: Published
• Research group: Electromagnetic theory
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1054-4887