Refraction by a Single Columnar Plasma.

摘要

In the paper,the author examines the question of just what a radar sees when it tracks a target moving behind a columnar plasma. It is found that refraction by even weak plasmas can generate multiple images at various apparent ranges and angular locations,and that these images will have large variations in their radar cross sections and trajectories. An illustrative numerical example is worked out exactly,and is contrasted with the comparable solutions obtained by refraction approximations used in the RANC and HARC programs. It is found that the domain over which these approximations are useful depends rather strongly on the radar mode under consideration, i.e.,search,track-while-scan,track,etc. In the case of a track radar,the nature of the tracking filter also determines the appropriateness of the approximation. (Author)