Radar Detection Analysis of Rotor Systems (RADARS)

Military fixed-wing aircraft characteristically exhibit a radar signature, or radar cross section, that produces a slowly fluctuating signal return from one radar scan period to the next. Rotorcraft, however, have rotating airfoils which induce relatively large radar cross sections and phase fluctuations from one radar pulse to the next. Consequently, the highly fluctuating radar signature associated with rotorcraft components can affect the rotorcraft’s detectability by an interrogating radar. An accurate assessment of a rotorcraft’s radar detectability necessitates the inclusion of rotor dynamics in its signature characterization and the modeling of the procedure in which the radar receiver processes this signature component. To address this area of importance, BHTI developed the RADARS methodology, and incorporated it into BHTI’s primary computer model for calculating radar detectability. The implementation of the RADARS methodology provides BHTI engineers with a valuable tool for evaluating military rotorcraft design concepts.