Calibration standards and uncertainties in radar cross section measurements

Abstract

Standards for radar cross section measurements are being developed cooperatively by NIST and DoD scientists. Three technical areas were defined as the foundation of such an effort: (1) monostatic single-channel calibration, (2) full polarimetric calibration using a scattering matrix formalism, and (3) analysis of radar cross section calibration and measurement uncertainty. The authors reviews the results of assessment of calibration data accuracy using a set of cylinders as artifact standards, examines the theory of polarimetric calibrations, and discusses essential areas of radar cross section uncertainty analysis.