A 3D imaging radar for small unmanned airplanes - ARTINO

In this paper a 3D imaging radar concept, suitable for an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and its status is presented. The concept combines a real aperture, realized by a linear array of nadir pointing antennas, and a synthetic aperture, which is spanned by the moving airplane. The radar front-end uses frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) technique with direct down-conversion in Ka band. This technique reduces the power consumption of the radar and the size of the antennas. In comparison to complex and cost intensive phased array approaches, it requires only a moderate number of antennas and microwave components. The scope of this paper is to present an overview of the front-end architecture, design, and realization status.