Comparing analytical and and numerical simulations of the radar micro-Doppler signatures of multi-rotor UAVs

Comparing analytical and and numerical simulations of the radar micro-Doppler signatures of multi-rotor UAVs

Speirs, Peter, J. (University of Bern)
Schoder, Arne (University of Bern)
Renker, Matthias (armasuisse Science and Technology)
Wellig, Peter (armasuisse Science and Technology)
Murk, Axel (University of Bern)

2018-12-07

Whilst for some applications sample measurements of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) micro- Doppler signatures will be sufficient, it is also important to also be able to simulate such signatures. This can be done at differing levels of complexity: from simple analytic consideration of the combined scattering from idealised rotating blades, through to numerical simulation of the scattering from CAD models of varying levels of detail. With increasing complexity comes increasing cost in terms of CAD complexity and simulation time, so it is desirable to be able to use as simple a model as is fit for purpose. ln this presentation we will show the results of simulation of the micro-Doppler signature from quad-, hexa- and octocopters using an analytic approximation, as well as Method of Moments (MoM) simulations applied to both simple and complex models of the UAVs. The MoM UAV RCS values will be validated against anechoic chamber measurements of quadcopters and a hexacopter (with stationary rotors). We will then test the utility of the analytic approximation by attempting to apply a machine-learning algorithm, trained on the analytic approximation micro-Doppler signatures, to identify the number of rotors present in both other analytic data and the MoM-derived signatures.

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