REDUCING THE CONTRIBUTION FROM SUPPORT STRUCTURES FOR RADAR CROSS-SECTION MEASUREMENTS WITH THE USE OF MICROWAVE IMAGING TECHNIQUES

In this article a technique is proposed to reduce the contribution fro m support structures during backscattered field measurements of object s. The contributions from support structures contaminates the backscat tered field from objects with low radar cross-section (RCS) or stealth characteristics. The technique employs microwave imaging algorithms t o obtain an image of the object. The unwanted contribution from the su pport structure to the total backscattered field is removed. Using a r econstruction technique, the RCS of the object is obtained from the cl ean image. The proposed technique is applied to obtain the RCS for an object measured in the compact range at the University of Pretoria , S outh Africa. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.