A micro-UAV-borne system for radar imaging: A feasibility study

Radar mounted onboard micro-UAV is an early stage technology and its potentiality is far from being focused, even if radar sensors having costs compatible with micro-UAV are currently developed. As a contribution to this topic, this paper describes a radar-equipped hexacopter assembled thanks to complementary skills available at IREA and DII. In order to test the operation mode of the system as well as to investigate its target detection and localization capabilities, a feasibility experiment has been carried out in December 2016. The results of this flight campaign are presented, in terms of both raw data and images obtained by means of an ad-hoc data processing approach. These results provide an encouraging preliminary proof of the achievable outcomes.