volume | PIER Journals

2023-01-04

Design and Validation of Reflector Elements to Increase the Radar Cross-Section of Small Drones

Alex Ganau,

Dr. Alex Ganau

ITACA Institute

Universitat Politècnica de València

Spain

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Joaquin Vico Navarro,

Dr. Joaquin Vico Navarro

ITACA Institute

Universitat Politècnica de València

Spain

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Pablo Morcillo-Pallarés,

Dr. Pablo Morcillo-Pallarés

ITACA Institute

Universitat Politècnica de València

Spain

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Juan Vicente Balbastre Tejedor

Dr. Juan Vicente Balbastre Tejedor

ITACA Institute

Universitat Politècnica de València

Spain

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Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 128, 129-142, 2023

doi:10.2528/PIERC22092003

Abstract

In the next few years, the use of drones for civilian applications is expected to skyrocket, leading to a multitude of new use cases. However, the possible improper use of drones generates doubts in the population due to the risks it poses to the safety and security of airspace operations. Having absolute surveillance of unmanned aircraft is quite difficult for several reasons, e.g., problems arise when monitoring small drones due to their reduced radar signature, around -10 dBm², which makes them practically imperceptible to Air Traffic Control (ATC) radars, which can rarely detect targets with radar cross-sections (RCSs) below 0 dBm². For instance, a possible solution to mitigate the lack of identification and thus avoid problems specially in Control Traffic Region (CTR) zones is to increase the RCSs of the drones by incorporating a reflector element that could produce much more intense radar echoes than the drone itself. The aim of this paper is to design and evaluate a Luneburg lens through electromagnetic (EM) simulation and validate its performance experimentally by conducting flight tests in open space with a commercial drone carrying the manufactured reflector making use of a 24 GHz radar.

Citation

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Alex Ganau, Joaquin Vico Navarro, Pablo Morcillo-Pallarés, and Juan Vicente Balbastre Tejedor, "Design and Validation of Reflector Elements to Increase the Radar Cross-Section of Small Drones," Progress In Electromagnetics Research C, Vol. 128, 129-142, 2023.
doi:10.2528/PIERC22092003

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