A new approach for in-situ antenna characterization, radome inspection and radar calibration, using an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)

This paper presents a new concept for using an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) for in-situ antenna characterization, radome inspection and radar calibration. A commercial multirotor platform integrated with a sensor suite composed of an HD camera and an RF probe were used to prove the concept. Preliminary results were obtained using two different flight modes that were used to characterize an Antenna Under Test (AUT) and calibrate a radar in X-band. This new technique enables a full characterization of the antenna patterns in a radar system, including the external degradation introduced by factors such as ground clutter, the radome, temperature and other artifacts that are difficult to characterize during the design and development process. Preliminary results show that this technique has the potential for improving the characterization and the calibration process of an operational radar. This paper also presents a new UAS platform architecture that will be used for the same missions from S- to Ka-band in conventional and active phased array radar systems.