Examination of target RCS characteristics in FDA radars

This paper reports on the preliminary analysis of frequency diverse array (FDA) radars for simple target geometries. The radar system employs an FDA and a isotropic element as the transmitter and receiver antennas, respectively, and illuminates a target consisting of an arbitrary arrangement of ideal point scatterers. After establishing a signal model for the voltage waveform received by this radar system, the study then considers particular target arrangements and compares the average received power to that of a conventional phased array as a function of the target aspect angle. Simulation results demonstrate an apparent reduction in the received power fluctuations with target aspect for the FDA radar.