Drone detection and radar-cross-section measurements by RAD-DAR

RAD-DAR is a frequency-modulated-continuous-wave radar demonstrator, working at X-band, completely designed and constructed by the authors' research group following the ubiquitous-radar concept. After introducing its main hardware and software blocks, with special emphasis to its off-line signal processing and data processing, this study presents the results of a drone detection test, where RAD-DAR achieved a DJI-Phantom 4 detection and tracking at a range up to 3 km. The system performance is discussed with different flights including an attack manoeuvre, and a free flight, which helps to highlight their advantages in surveillance tasks due to the RAD-DAR staring nature. Furthermore, range, speed and azimuth accuracies are discussed, considering the drone global positioning system data. Finally, this study shows a statistical radar cross-section study based on the processed data of the drone and attempts to classify this target by means of Swerling models.