Construction and Calibration of a LADAR (Laser Detection and Ranging) Cross-Section Measurement Range

摘要

The purpose of this thesis was to construct an experiment that can accurately determine a target's laser radar cross-section. A laser radar cross-section (LRCS) is a measure of the average amount of optical power scattered by a target, and is analogous to the term radar cross-section, which is defined for scattered power radiating at microwave wavelengths. Cross-sections, whether optical or microwave, are quantities which describe the effective area of a specific target which directly scatters an incident electromagnetic wavefront. The focus of this thesis is to investigate the nature of LRCS measurements, with particular attention paid to the measurements of spherical calibration targets. Keywords: Laser pulse scattering; Optical radar; Infrared detection; Mathematical prediction; LADAR (Laser Detection and Ranging).