Radar signatures for drones: Measurement campaign in BiRa test facility

Measuring the radar signatures of a VTOL drone In the BiRa test facility at the Center for Mobility Research (ThIMo) To ensure safe and efficient traffic, the various objects in road and air traffic must be able to quickly detect their spatial environment using radar and communicate with each other via radio networks. In order to investigate the radar reflection of a so-called VTOL drone (short for "Vertical Take-Off and Landing"), which can take off and land vertically without a runway, the Electronic Measurements and Signal Processing (EMS) Group at TU Ilmenau has set up a test facility at the BiRa test facility has just completed an extensive measurement campaign at the BiRa test facility. The new research equipment at the Center of Mobility Research (ThIMo) , which is part of the "Virtual Road - Simulation and Test Facility (VISTA)", the only one of its kind in Germany, measures the polarimetric bistatic reflectivity of radar targets, i.e. objects with separately adjustable illumination and observation angles, in three dimensions. The large real-time bandwidth of up to 4 GHz makes it possible to capture and resolve the time-varying behavior of extended targets. This means that in addition to vehicles, people or other traffic elements, other moving objects such as drones can also be considered as objects for the measurements. The system covers the frequency range from below 1 GHz to 160 GHz with small gaps. The current measurements in the BiRa test facility are part of the 6G-ICAS4Mobility project and were carried out together with the project partner aeroDCS project partner.