High-precision RCS measurement of aircraft’s weak scattering source

The radar cross section (RCS) of weak scattering source on the surface of an aircraft is usually less than −40 dBsm. How to accurately measure the RCS characteristics of weak scattering source is a technical challenge for the aircraft’s RCS measurement. This paper proposes separating and extracting the two-dimensional (2D) reflectivity distribution of the weak scattering source with the microwave imaging algorithm and spectral transform so as to enhance its measurement precision. Firstly, we performed the 2D microwave imaging of the target and then used the 2D gating function to separate and extract the reflectivity distribution of the weak scattering source. Secondly, we carried out the spectral transform of the reflectivity distribution and eventually obtained the RCS of the weak scattering source through calibration. The prototype experimental results and their analysis show that the measurement method is effective. The experiments on an aircraft’s low-scattering conformal antenna verify that the measurement method can eliminate the clutter on the surface of aircraft. The precision of measuring a −40 dBsm target is 3–5 dB better than the existing RCS measurement methods. The measurement method can more accurately obtain the weak scattering source’s RCS characteristics.