A 3D perspective for radar cross section visualization

A three-dimensional (3D) interactive visualization tool has developed to display and help analyze the radar cross section (RCS) of any target of interest. This software currently runs on a Silicon Graphics workstation and provides a consistent orientation reference by displaying a reduced size visual image next to the generated 3D RCS. The interface provides smooth rotation along multiple axes through keyboard inputs and includes an optional sphere of selectable radar return magnitude which can be superimposed using the mouse. This sphere is useful for relative comparisons or quantitative measurements of the data. The development of this software is discussed along with the importance of the underlying reference mesh. 3D RCS objects have been generated for a typical airborne and ground target to demonstrate the capabilities of the software and illustrate the relative effects of the mesh improvements. The analytical observations and generalizations for these radar return data sets are discussed