Analyzing Radar Cross Section Signatures of Diverse Drone Models at mmWave Frequencies

• Published in: IEEE access Vol. 8; pp. 48958 - 48969
• Main Authors: Semkin, Vasilii, Haarla, Jaakko, Pairon, Thomas, Slezak, Christopher, Rangan, Sundeep, Viikari, Ville, Oestges, Claude
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway IEEE 2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Antenna measurements; Battery charge measurement; Carbon fiber reinforced plastics; Construction materials; Drone detection; Drones; Lithium ions; Military helicopters; Military strategy; Millimeter waves; millimeter-wave; radar cross section; Radar cross sections; Radar equipment; Radar signatures; Radar systems; Radio waves; Receiving antennas; Rechargeable batteries; Styrofoam; Transmitting antennas; unmanned aerial vehicle; Unmanned aerial vehicles
• ISSN: 2169-3536; 2169-3536
• DOI: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2979339

In this work, we present quasi-monostatic Radar Cross Section measurements of different Unmanned Aerial Vehicles at 26-40 GHz. We study the Radar Cross Section signatures of nine different multi-rotor platforms as well as a single Lithium-ion Polymer battery. These results are useful in the design and testing of radar systems which employ millimeter-wave frequencies for superior drone detection. The data shows how radio waves are scattered by drones of various sizes and what impact the primary construction material has on the received Radar Cross Section signatures. Matching our intuition, the measurements confirm that larger drones made of carbon fiber are easier to detect, whereas drones made from plastic and styrofoam materials are less visible to the radar systems. The measurement results are published as an open database, creating an invaluable reference for engineers working on drone detection.