Drone detection and radar‐cross‐section measurements by RAD‐DAR

RAD‐DAR is a frequency‐modulated‐continuous‐wave radar demonstrator, working at X‐band, completely designed and constructed by the authors’ research group following the ubiquitous‐radar concept. After introducing its main hardware and software blocks, with special emphasis to its off‐line signal processing and data processing, this study presents the results of a drone detection test, where RAD‐DAR achieved a DJI‐Phantom 4 detection and tracking at a range up to 3 km. The system performance is discussed with different flights including an attack manoeuvre, and a free flight, which helps to highlight their advantages in surveillance tasks due to the RAD‐DAR staring nature. Furthermore, range, speed and azimuth accuracies are discussed, considering the drone global positioning system data. Finally, this study shows a statistical radar cross‐section study based on the processed data of the drone and attempts to classify this target by means of Swerling models.