Bi-static Radar Cross Section Test Method by Using Historic Marconi Set-up and Time Gating

TL;DR

This paper presents a low-cost, reliable bi-static RCS measurement method using a historic Marconi set-up with time gating, enabling accurate RCS pattern extraction from PCB structures at microwave frequencies.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel bi-static RCS measurement technique utilizing a historic Marconi setup combined with time gating for improved accuracy and noise reduction.

Findings

Successful RCS measurements at 18 GHz and 32 GHz.

Method effectively removes side lobe effects and ambient noise.

Demonstrates reliability and low-cost advantages.

Abstract

In this paper, a low-cost, simple and reliable bi-static Radar Cross Section (RCS) measurement method making use a historic Marconi set-up is presented. It uses a transmitting (Tx) antenna (located at a constant position, at a reference angle of {\theta} = 0o) and a receiver (Rx) antenna (mounted on a moveable arm calibrated in the azimuthal direction with an accuracy of 0.1o). A time gating method is used to extract the information from the reflection in the time domain; applying time filter allows removing the antenna side lobe effects and other ambient noise. In this method, the Rx antenna (on the movable arm) is used to measure the reflected field in the angular range from 1o to 90o of reflection from the structure (printed PCB) and from the reference configuration represented by a ground (GND) plane of the same dimension. The time gating method is then applied to each pair of PCB / GND measurements to extract the bi-static RCS pattern of the structure at a given frequency. Here comparison of measurement results carried out at 18 GHz and 32 GHz with simulation indicates the successful performance of the proposed method. It can be used as a low-cost, reliable and available option in future measurement and scientific research.