Future research activities in UHF/VHF-radar
Publish date: 2002-01-01
Report number: FOI-R--0485--SE
Pages: 24
Written in: Swedish
Abstract
Future research activites in UHF/VHF radar is of importance to retain national strategic competence and to support the Armed Forces in future systems acquisitions. The present report summarises research achievements and proposes new research investments in UHF/VHF radar with the focus on airborne ground surveillance. Research in low-frequency radar has been conducted at FOI since 1985. It has resulted in two UHF/VHF systems: CARABAS and LORA. CARABAS operates in the VHF band within 20-90 MHz. It has large area-coverage rate (approx 1-10 km2/s), and capability to detect vehicle-size low-signature targets, irrespective whether they are hidden in foliage, under camouflage, or of stealth design. LORA operates in the UHF band within 200-800 MHz and is under final testing. It is primarily intended to demonstrate detection of moving low-signature targets using UHF/VHF-radar. The report identifies a number of key questions, which need to be adressed in future research. In terms of CARABAS, the focus is on near-future operational systems: Ultra-wideband antennas, algorithms, and sensor data fusion. New research is proposed in the area of bi-/multistatic SAR where significant system advantages may be achieved. Bi-/multistatic SAR potentially implies less vulnerability, smaller antennas, shorter acquisition times, improved target classification etc., but also that a number of technical issues and challenges need to be solved with new research.