Analysis of the Target Detection Performance of Air-to-Air Airborne Radar Using Long-Range Propagation Simulation in Abnormal Atmospheric Conditions

Abstract

In this paper, we propose the analysis of the target detection performance of air-to-air airborne radars using long-range propagation simulations with a novel quad-linear refractivity model under abnormal atmospheric conditions. The radar propagation characteristics and the target detection performance are simulated using the Advanced Refractive Effects Prediction System (AREPS) software, where the refractivity along the altitude, array antenna pattern, and digital terrain elevation data are considered as inputs to obtain the path loss of the wave propagation. The quad-linear model is used to approximate the actual refractivity data, which are compared to the data derived using the conventional trilinear refractivity model. On the basis of the propagation simulations, we propose a detection performance metric in terms of the atmosphere (DPMA) for intuitively examining the long-range propagation characteristics of airborne radars in air-to-air situations. To confirm the feasibility of using the DPMA map in various duct scenarios, we employ two actual refractive indices to observe the DPMA results in relation to the height of the airborne radar.

Antenna Design for Microwave and Millimeter Wave Applications: Latest Advances and Prospects

“…Lim et al [14] proposed the analysis of the target detection performance of air-to-air airborne radars using long-range propagation simulations with a novel quad-linear refractivity model under abnormal atmospheric conditions. The radar propagation characteristics and the target detection performance were simulated using the Advanced Refractive Effects Prediction System (AREPS) software, where the refractivity along the altitude, array antenna pattern, and digital terrain elevation data were considered as inputs to obtain the path loss of the wave propagation.…”

Prediction of Target Detection Probability Based on Air-to-Air Long-Range Scenarios in Anomalous Atmospheric Environments

“…In particular, elevated ducts sometimes occur at high altitudes, which affect the wave propagation with a high path loss near the elevated ducting region. Thus, it is necessary to precisely model the refractivity of the elevated ducting in the air-to-air situation of the anomalous environment using a quad-linear model [32]. Figure 2a shows the conceptual figure of the quad-linear refractivity model.…”

Prediction of Atmospheric Duct Conditions from a Clutter Power Spectrum Using Deep Learning

“…This is because the detection accuracy of long-range radar systems often degrades due to the atmospheric refractivity since the electromagnetic waves emitted from radars propagate along a bent path rather than a straight path. With regard to the atmospheric refractivity, atmospheric conditions are classified as normal, super, sub, and duct [7][8][9][10]. Among these, the duct conditions have been reported to cause a fatal degradation in the detection performance in the case of long-range targets because such conditions increase the gradient of the atmospheric refractivity index above a certain threshold, making it similar to a waveguide [11,12].…”