An all weather millimetre wave imaging radar for UAVs

In this paper we describe a new 35GHz air-borne radar developed jointly by DERA and Alenia Marconi Systems. This radar is a functional prototype of a more highly configured imaging radar which is designed to meet the needs fo r all-weather imaging both for future unmanned air vehicles (UAV) and for s eekers in the next generation of surface attack weapons. The radar achieves high range resolution through a combination of pseudo-ra ndom phase coding and frequency agility. This is then augmented by syntheti c aperture techniques to allow forward looking high resolution 2D imagery t o be obtained. The radar has been installed on a fixed wing aircraft and ha s been used to gather fixed and relocatable target signature data under tac tically representative conditions. The paper begins with a discussion of the requirements for such a radar and then a review of its design and performance is presented. This is followed by examples of target signatures gathered during the initial system flight s and a discussion on their exploitation for surveillance, target acquisiti on and tracking.