A Cylindrical Phased Array Radar System for UAV Detection

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has been applied in many fields with the rapid development in recent years. Although it helps to improve the working efficiency and convenience of life, some problems exist in public security caused by the high difficulty of UAV detection due to its small size. Thus, the technology of UAV detection attracts more and more attention to researchers. Electromagnetic wave detection of UAV with radar is an effective and attractive technique because of the long detection range and the all-weather capacity. A cylindrical phased array radar system for effective UAV detection is introduced in this paper. The system has a better ability of omnidirectional scanning compared with planar array radars, and it can also flexibly change the beam direction and illumination time to the target by using the phased array, which brings great benefits for UAV detection under strong clutter environment. The system's hardware structure, working principle and signal processing flow designed for strong clutter suppression are specified in the investigation. Experimental results show great potential of this system in UAV detection.