Properties and Radar Cross-Section of forest fire ash particles at millimeter wave

Abstract

The investigation of forest fire ash has been presented for the analysis of microwave and millimeter wave radar systems performance. The base complex permittivity is measured with respect to temperature and Radar-Cross Section (RCS) is simulated in order to identify the organic material behavior. The complex permittivity is measured from X-band (8-12GHz) to Ka-Band (26.5-40GHz). Physical material properties are also measured. These include mass, color variations, particle size distributions, and aspect ratio distributions based on exposed temperature. The material properties are then analyzed for their volumetric backscattering capacity using a co-simulated MATLAB - CST-MWS (Microwave Studio) routine. Basic microwave and millimeter wave radar systems performance parameters have been identified for fire particle detection.