Practical investigation of a MIMO radar system capabilities for small drones detection

Yang, F., Xu, F., Fioranelli, F. , Le Kernec, J. , Chang, S. and Long, T. (2021) Practical investigation of a MIMO radar system capabilities for small drones detection. IET Radar, Sonar and Navigation, 15(7), pp. 760-774. (doi: 10.1049/rsn2.12082)

Abstract

The latest progress of the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar system developed for small drones detection at Beijing Institute of Technology is presented herein. A low-cost S-band MIMO scanning radar system is designed for the detection of small drones. A practical design optimisation and implementation of a sparse array covering the whole airspace, and a target-based MIMO radar array calibration method to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the target are proposed. An experiment in the microwave chamber was conducted to verify the designed sparse-array beam-pattern, and measurement campaigns for small drones were performed to test the system performance where the radar achieved detection and tracking of a small DJI-Phantom 4 drone at a range of up to 5 km. Target features, including micro-Doppler and radar cross-section signatures were extracted to assist target classification. The experimental results indicate that the system has promising capability in small drones detection and tracking, despite the challenges of low dwell time on targets due to the scanning nature of the system.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Fioranelli, Dr Francesco and Le Kernec, Dr Julien and Yang, Fawei
• Authors: Yang, F., Xu, F., Fioranelli, F., Le Kernec, J., Chang, S., and Long, T.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: IET Radar, Sonar and Navigation
• Publisher: Wiley
• ISSN: 1751-8792
• ISSN (Online): 1751-8792
• Published Online: 26 April 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Authors
• First Published: First published in IET Radar, Sonar and Navigation 15(7): 760-774
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence