Performance Comparison of Federal Aviation Administration Radars Against Multiple Aircraft Types
Abstract
The detection and tracking of aircraft and weather patterns are vital to the safety and success of the aviation industry both in the United States and throughout the world. In order to preserve and maintain situational awareness of the skies, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) employs four unique rotating radar systems: Air Surveillance Radar 9 (ASR-9), Air Surveillance Radar 11 (ASR-11), Terminal Doppler Weather Radar (TDWR), and Air Route Surveillance Radar (ARSR-4). In this work, an analysis of extending the capabilities of these radars is completed by allowing coherent processing of the maximum number of returned pulses within the antenna beamwidth. This analysis is performed by developing a Matrix Laboratory (Matlab) code set as a means through which a comprehensive comparison can be made. This research compares each radar target detection capability across multiple parametric studies with signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), target radar cross section (RCS), and Doppler frequency. Output results of this analysis also include two-dimensional beam comparisons of each radar against varying sized targets. The analysis features multiple aircraft SNR vs. range, range vs. RCS, beam comparisons, and Doppler frequency comparisons with both a single pulse transmission and the maximum possible number of pulses within the antenna beamwidth.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1224527
Entities
People
- Benjamin A. Brannum
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School