Measurement Methods for Radar Cross Section of Passenger Vehicles

Automotive millimeter-wave radar is used extensively in vehicle active safety. The Radar Cross Section (RCS) is one of the main parameters used by the automotive radar system to detect and identify surrounding vehicles. The RCS describes the electromagnetic scattering properties of objects. This paper describes a method and equipment to measure the RCS. An automobile-grade radar is used to measure the RCS of typical vehicles. A representative distance between the radar and the vehicle was chosen based on the analysis of the RCS of passenger vehicles in different distances in the near field. A cost-effective rotating platform was developed to rotate the passenger vehicles for RCS measurement in different azimuth angles. The RCS generated by the rotating platform was analyzed and mitigated. The measurement system can record the synchronized azimuth angle and RCS measurement. Different radar types, antenna response variations, and waveforms are eliminated by a calibration method using standard reflectors with the known theoretical RCS. The RCS measurement results and scattering centers of the Volkswagen Polo using the described method and equipment are presented in this paper.