2017 14th International Conference on Electrical Engineering/Electronics, Computer, Telecommunications

and Information Technology (ECTI-CON)

Measurement Scheme of Radar Cross Section with

Time Gating

Ratcharnon Phumvijit, Pichaya Supanakoon and Sathapron Promwong

Department of Telecommunication Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
Chalongkrung Road, Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand
{59601134, pichaya.su, sathaporn.pr}@kmitl.ac.th

Abstract—This paper proposes measurement scheme of radar anechoic chamber at Electrical and Electronics Institute. The
cross section (RCS). The measurement of quasi monostatic radar time gating technique is used for removing the mutual coupling
channel is done in anechoic chamber. The time gating technique between transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) antennas. The
is used for removing the effect of mutual coupling between personal computer (PC) case is used as the TUT. The vector
transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) antennas. The personal network analyzer (VNA) is used to measure transmission
computer (PC) case is used as the target under test (TUT). The coefficient in frequency range covered ultra wideband (UWB)
vector network analyzer (VNA) is used to measure transmission that is from 3 GHz to 11 GHz. The double-ridged waveguide
coefficient in frequency range covered ultra wideband (UWB) horn antennas are used as Tx and Rx antennas with vertical
that is 3-11 GHz. The double-ridged waveguide horn antennas
polarization. The complex frequency transfer function at each
are used as Tx and Rx antennas with vertical polarization. The
angle is used to evaluate the RCS of TUT. The RCS with time
complex frequency transfer function at each angle is used to
evaluate the RCS of TUT. The RCS with time gating are shown gating are shown and compared with that without time gating.
and compared with that without time gating. From the results, The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Sec. II
we can see that the proposed measurement scheme can be describes theory of RCS evaluation. Next, the measurement
increased the accuracy of RCS that evaluated from quasi scheme is explained in Sec. III. After that, Sec. IV shows the
monostatic radar with dense mutual coupling between Tx and Rx measurement results. Finally, conclusion is given in Sec. V.
antennas.

Keywords—radar cross section (RCS); time gating; muatual II. THEORY OF RCS EVALUATION
coupling
A. Extension of Monostatic Radar Equation
I. INTRODUCTION The original monostatic radar equation is used to derive the
link budget in the term of real power gain and loss, while the
For the wireless communications, the multipath fading is
scattering object in channel is characterized in term of RCS.
important factor to decrease the system performance. The
The radar equation of monostatic radar, which is shown in Fig.
combination of direct signal with scattering signal from object
1, is expressed as [7]
in an environment causes the multipath fading. Therefore, the
understanding of scattering characteristic of each object is
necessary for modeling the wireless communication channel.
The radar cross section (RCS) is the parameter that describes Pr σGt Ae
= (1)
scattering ability of target under test (TUT). Although there are Pt 16π 2 d 4
closed form formulas of simple target shapes, the measurement
scheme of RCS is needed for complex target shapes.
where Pr (W) is received power, Pt (W) is transmitted power,
There are many researches that proposed measurement
scheme of RCS. The RCS of many targets are interested. The Gt gain of Tx antenna, Ae (m2) is effective aperture of Rx
RCS of simple targets are measured in anechoic chamber [1]. antenna, σ (m2) is RCS of TUT and d (m) is distance
The other complex targets such as tree [2], building [3] and between antenna and target.
objects on street [4]. The ultra wideband (UWB) measurement
technique of RCS is used to study the effect on UWB system In this paper, the UWB measurement technique is used.
[5]. Although the measurement of RCS with time gating is Therefore, the original monostatic radar equation is extended in
proposed to reduce the multipath fading effect [6], there is no the complex form of frequency transfer function as
consideration mutual coupling between Tx and Rx antennas
and measurement in anechoic chamber.
H σ ( f )H t ( f )H e ( f ) − j 4πfd / c
This paper proposes measurement scheme of RCS. The S 21,s ( f ) = e (2)
measurement of quasi monostatic radar channel is done in 4πd 2

978-1-5386-0449-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 822

 2017 14th International Conference on Electrical Engineering/Electronics, Computer, Telecommunications
and Information Technology (ECTI-CON)

σ
Gt , Ae Gt Ae

Pt Pr Pt Pr

d df

Fig. 1. Block diagram of monostatic radar. Fig. 2. Block diagram of Tx-Rx antenna link.

where H t is transfer function of Tx antenna, H e (m) is C. Application of Time Gating

transfer function of effective aperture, H σ (m) is transfer Equation (7) can be used to evaluate RCS by using
function of RCS, f (Hz) is frequency and c (m/s) is velocity measurement scheme of monostatic radar channel. For the
of light. measurement scheme of quasi monostatic radar channel, there
is effect of mutual coupling between Tx and Rx antennas. The
Parameter S 21,s in (2) is obtained by measuring parameter quasi monostatic radar equation with multipath effect can be
expressed as
S 21 of monostatic radar channel in anechoic chamber. From
this equation, we obtain new quantity in complex form, which
H (f ) 
are H e and H σ . The relations of old and new parameters are S 21, sm ( f ) =  σ 2 e − j 4πfd / c + H m ( f ) H t ( f )H e ( f ) (8)
 4πd 
2
where H m is the transfer function of mutual coupling between
σ = Hσ (3) Tx and Rx antennas.
2
Ae = H e (4) Parameter S 21, sm in (8) is obtained by measuring parameter
S 21 of quasi monostatic radar channel in anechoic chamber
with effect of mutual coupling between Tx and Rx antennas.
B. Extension of Tx-Rx Antenna Link Equation
Equation (2) has characteristics of Tx and Rx antennas that Transfer function of mutual coupling between Tx and Rx
are H t and H a . For removing these parameters to evaluate the antennas cannot remove directly in frequency domain. For the
advantage of UWB measurement, the time gating is applied for
RCS of TUT, the Tx-Rx antenna link equation, which is shown removing the mutual coupling effect. First, the impulse
in Fig. 2, is considered as response of (8) is evaluated by using inverse Fourier transform:

∞
Pr GA
= t e2 (5) hsm (t ) =  S 21, sm ( f )e j 2πft df (9)
Pt 4πd f −∞

where hsm is impulse response of quasi monostatic radar

where d f (m) is the distance between Tx and Rx antennas. channel and t (s) is time.
After that, the Tx-Rx antenna link equation is extended in Impulse response of quasi monostatic radar channel has
the complex form of frequency transfer function as scattering from TUT at about time delay 2d / c s and has
mutual coupling at time delay much less than 2d / c s.
Therefore, the time gating technique can be applied to remove
H t ( f )H e ( f ) − j 2πfd f / c
the mutual coupling between Tx and Rx antennas.
S 21, f ( f ) = e (6)
2 πdf
The time gating in this paper uses Kaiser-Bessel window
for removing mutual coupling effect. The Kaiser-Bessel
Parameter S 21, f in (6) is obtained by measuring parameter window is defined as [8]
S 21 of Tx-Rx antenna link in anechoic chamber.
 
From (2) and (6), the transfer function of RCS can be [ 2 
 I  πα 1 −  2 t − t p   ]
evaluated from  0    
   T   T T
w(t ) =   tp − ≤ t ≤ t p + (10)
 I 0 (πα ) 2 2
2 π d 2 j 2πf ( 2 d −d f ) / c S 21,s ( f ) 
Hσ ( f ) = e (7)
df S 21, f ( f )  0 otherwise


978-1-5386-0449-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 823

 2017 14th International Conference on Electrical Engineering/Electronics, Computer, Telecommunications
and Information Technology (ECTI-CON)

Fig. 3. Double-ridged waveguide horn antenna. Fig. 4. Measurement setup for monostatic radar channel.

where T is widow width, α is window shape parameter and

T p is the time at peak of window. In this paper, α is set to 4.8
and T p is set to about 2d / c s. Function I 0 ( x ) is the zeroth-
order modified Bessel function of the first kind, which is
defined as

π
1
I 0 (x ) = e
x cos(θ )
dθ (11)
π 0

After that, the transfer function of quasi monostatic radar

channel with time gating can be estimated by using Fourier
transform of (9) multiply by (10):

∞
S 21,t ( f ) =  hsm (t ) w(t )e − j 2πft dt (12) Fig. 5. Measurement setup for Tx-Rx antenna link.
−∞

For measuring the monostatic radar channel, the

Finally, the transfer function of RCS with time gating can measurement is done in anechoic chamber with distance
be evaluated from between antennas and TUT of 3 m as shown in Fig. 4. This
result is used as (8). The TUT is rotated around with 10 
2 π d 2 j 2πf ( 2 d −d f ) / c S 21,t ( f ) increment. Moreover, the measurement of Tx-Rx antennas link
H σ ,t ( f ) = e (13) channel is done in anechoic chamber with 3 m distance as
df S 21, f ( f )
shown in Fig. 5. This result is used as (6). The RCS with time
gating is evaluated by using (13) and compared with that
Equation (13) is convenient to evaluate the RCS by using without time gating.
measurement scheme of quasi monostatic radar channel in
anechoic chamber.
IV. MEASUREMENT RESULTS
III. MEASUREMENT SCHEME Fig. 6 shows the impulse response of quasi monostatic
radar at angles of 0  , 30  and 90  . It can clearly see that there
In this paper, the RCS measurement is done at Electrical is same mutual couple occurred at time less than 20 s and
and Electronics Institute. The TUT is a PC case. The VNA is scattering from each angle of TUT arrived at time from 20 s to
used to measure the magnitude and phase of transmission 25 s. This mutual couple is removed by using Kaiser-Bessel
coefficient in frequency ranged from 3 GHz to 11 GHz, where window.
ports 1 and 2 are connected to Tx and Rx antennas,
respectively. The double-ridged waveguide horn antennas are The transfer function of Tx-Rx antenna link is shown in
used as Tx and Rx antennas with vertical polarization. The Tx Fig. 7. This result includes the characteristics of Tx antenna, 3
and Rx antennas are placed close together for simulating the m free space channel and Rx antenna and use to remove the
quasi monostatic radar channel. The double-ridged waveguide characteristic of antennas from quasi monostatic radar channel
horn antenna is shown in Fig. 3. after done time gating.

978-1-5386-0449-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 824

 2017 14th International Conference on Electrical Engineering/Electronics, Computer, Telecommunications
and Information Technology (ECTI-CON)


Fig. 6. Magnitude of Tx-Rx antenna transfer function. Fig. 8. RCS at 0 angle along frequency from 3 GHz to 11 GHz.

 
Fig. 7. Transfer function of Tx-Rx antenna link. Fig. 9. RCS at 6.85 GHz frequency along angle from 0 to 360

Fig. 8 shows RCS at 0  angle along frequency from 3 GHz

to 11 GHz. RCS without time gating fluctuates more than that REFERENCES
with time gating that because mutual coupling between Tx and [1] M. A. S. Miacci, E. L. Nohara, I. M. Martin, G. G. Peixoto and M. C.
Rx antennas interferes the scattering signal from TUT. Rezende, “Indoor Radar Cross Section Measurements of Simple
Targets,” Journal of Aerospace Technology and Management (JATM),
RCS at frequency of 6.85 GHz along angle of TUT from vol. 4, no. 1, Jan.-Mar. 2012, pp. 25-32.
0  to 360  is shown in Fig. 9. The peak of RCS is at 0  , 90  , [2] Y. L. C. Jong and M. H. A. J. Herben, “A Tree-Scattering Model for
Improved Propagation Prediction in Urban Microcells,” IEEE
180  and 360  correspond to shape of TUT. The lower level Transactions on Vehicular Technology, vol. 53, no. 2, Mar. 2004, pp.
of RCS with time gating is less than that without time gating 503-513.
that because the mutual coupling is removed. [3] V. D. Esposti, F. Fuschini, E. M. Vitucci and G. Falciasecca,
“Measurement and Modelling of Scattering from Buildings,” IEEE
Trasnsactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 55, no. 1, Jan 2007, pp.
V. CONCLUSION 143-153.
This paper proposes measurement scheme of RCS with [4] M. Ghoraishi, J. Takada and T. Imai, “Radio Wave Scattering from
time gating for removing mutual coupling between Tx and Rx Lampposts in Microcell Urban Mobile Propagation Channel,” ECTI
antennas occurred from quasi monostatic radar channel. From Transactions on Electrical Eng., Electronics, and Communications, vol.
the results, the RCS with time gating has less fluctuation along 7, no. 1, Feb. 2009, pp. 14-20.
frequency and less lower level compared with that without time [5] H. Tsuchiya, N. Lertsirisopon, J. Takada and T. Kobayashi, “Effects of
Bragg Scattering on Ultra-Wideband Signal Transmission from Periodic
gating. These indicate that the proposed measurement scheme Surface,” IEICE Transactions on Communications, vol. E91-B, no. 2,
can be increased the accuracy of RCS that evaluated from quasi Feb. 2008, pp. 536-542.
monostatic radar with dense mutual coupling between Tx and [6] M. M. Maw, P. Supanakoon, S. Promwong and J. Takada,
Rx antennas. “Measurement and Evaluation of Radar Cross Section for Furniture in
An Indoor Propagation Channel,” Advances in Radio Science, vol. 12,
Nov. 2014, pp. 273-278.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
[7] E. F. Knott, J. F. Shaeffer and T. M. Tuley, Radar Cross Section. Artech
The authors would like to thank Electrical and Electronics House, New Jersey, 1985.
Institute for anechoic chamber, TUT and measurement [8] S. K. Mitra and J. F. Kaiser, Handbook for Digital Signal Processing.
equipment. John Wiley, New York, 1993.

978-1-5386-0449-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 825