The effect of the antenna group delay on RCS measurements in the L-band

Abstract

When measuring the radar cross section (RCS) at a distance in the same order as the antennas and the target sizes the range should be accurately assessed. In the L-band the use of highly directive antennas such as horn antennas is restricted by the size they would have. We propose therefore to use a pair of log-periodic arrays instead although they are less directive and supposed to exhibit a stronger mutual coupling. A differential technique based on subtracting the impulse response with and without target is also proposed. The method was successfully validated on a rectangular target.