METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING THE POINTING OF AN ANTENNA OF AN AIRBORNE RADAR SYSTEM

摘要

A method for optimizing the elevational pointing of an antenna of an airborne radar system at an altitude h includes an antenna and processing and calculation means, the method comprising: a. selecting an area of interest b. calculating atmospheric losses L_ref at a reference altitude h_ref at the reference range D_ref and calculating a reference criterion K_ref=−40 log₁₀(D_ref); c. for each possible elevational pointing distance of the antenna D_pt from the area of interest, calculating the antenna elevation S that makes it possible to target the distance D_pt via the centre of the antenna; d. for each distance D from the region of interest, calculating the angle θ at which the antenna observes the point of the ground at the distance D and calculating a criterion; 1. K(D)=G_e(θ)+G_r(θ)−40 log₁₀D+L_ref(h_ref,D_ref)−L_atmo(h,D) 2. where G_e(θ),G_r(θ) are respectively the gains of the antenna that are normalized at emission and at reception; e. calculating all of the distances D that, for this pointing distance D_pt, satisfy the relationship K(D)K_ref so as to obtain the start and the end of the sub-swath actually able to be used by the radar system; and calculating the actually usable sub-swaths that are to be juxtaposed (A, B, C) in order to cover the whole of the area of interest without discontinuities.