A 100 GHz Polarimetric Compact Radar Range for Scale-Model Radar Cross Section Measurements

A fully polarimetric compact radar range operating at a center frequency of 100 GHz has been developed for obtaining radar cross section, inverse synthetic aperture radar imagery and high range resolution profiles on targets and structures of interest. The 100 GHz radar range provides scale-model RCS measurements for a variety of convenient scale factors including W-Band (1:1 scale), C-band (1:16 scale), and S-band (1:26 scale). An overview of the radar range is provided in this paper along with measurement examples of ISAR scale-model imaging, scalemodel through-wall imaging, and preliminary kHz sweep-rate Doppler that demonstrate a few of the diverse and unique applications for this system. The 100 GHz transceiver consists of a fast-switching, stepped, CW microwave synthesizer driving dual-transmit and dual-receive frequency multiplier chains. The stepped resolution of the system’s frequency sweep is sufficient for unambiguous resolution of the entire chamber. The compact range reflector is a CNC machined aluminum reflector edgetreated with FIRAMTM-160 absorber serrations and fed from the side to produce a clean quiet zone. This range is the latest addition to a suite of compact radar ranges developed by the Submillimeter-Wave Technology Laboratory providing scalemodel radar measurements at nearly all of the common radar bands.