Detection and Characterization of Drones in Urban Environments with Synthetic Aperture Radar Images

This work examines synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging of a commercial drone in an artificial urban environment. We used a 10 GHz frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) SAR imaging system with a 1.5 GHz bandwidth inside an electromagnetic anechoic chamber to generate SAR images for target detection and characterization. We considered combinations of two ranges, two cross-ranges, and five elevation angles. We constructed a brick wall inside the anechoic chamber and behind the drone to simulate the scenario of a drone flying very close to structures in an urban environment. From the initial SAR imaging and simulation results, we found that SAR imaging can detect and distinguish different drone orientations in an artificial urban environment.