An overview of the DRDC Ottawa RCS measurement system

As part of the continued requirement to characterize the radar signature of platforms of interests to the Canadian Forces, Defence R&D Canada (DRDC) maintains a capability to predict and measure the radar cross section (RCS) of various scatterers using a combination of analytical, numerical and experimental techniques. The inter-dependence between the three approaches remains important due to the complexity of electromagnetic scattering, as is the case when electrically large geometries are being considered. Indeed, structures on the scale of thousands of wavelengths such as ships at microwave frequencies are difficult to handle both numerically and experimentally. In particular, the large electrical dimensions of ships pose severe numerical challenges due to the prohibitive number of unknowns required; approximate high-frequency techniques must be used. Ship RCS measurements also pose challenges due to the logistics involved and the uncontrolled nature of the experiments. Furthermore, the sheer size of a naval vessel may also be problematic if one is interested in the far-field RCS since, properly speaking, such measurements may have to be carried out in the near field.