Exapmple of Development

CASE STUDY

Portable Active Radar Calibrator (ARC)

Request by our customer

Portable ARC with uniform and highly stable Radar Cross-Section (RCS)

Note: ARC: It is a device that receives radio waves from the radar with a receiving antenna, amplifies them to the desired RCS, and sends them back to the radar from a transmitting antenna.

Requirements

Background

Radars mounted on satellites and aircraft require tuning utilizing ARCs. Since satellites and aircraft do not stay in one location, they require ARCs that can be easily moved and have a high degree of freedom in radar adjustment.

Solutions

The system is composed of modularized components (an antenna, an electronic unit, a control unit, and a digital receiver), which can be transported by a small truck.
Uniform RCS is ensured by tracking the calibration target.
Highly stable RCS is ensured by maintaining the electronic section at a predetermined temperature.
2 transmitting antennas and 2 receiving antennas are provided, allowing operation in polarimetric mode.

Outcome

We were able to ensure a larger RCS than a portable corner reflector. The number of people required to assemble and disassemble the device is four. The time required to assemble the system is about 60 minutes, and about 40 minutes for disassembling.

Comment from our engineer

By using Peltier elements for temperature control, we were able to make the device smaller than those using heat pumps.