Experimental analysis of fully polarimetric radar returns of a fixed‐wing UAV

The characteristics of the radar returns for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are useful for radar detection and classification of the UAV. In this study, the authors carried out an experiment in an anechoic chamber to measure the fully polarimetric echoes of a fixed‐wing UAV in X‐band. With the measured data, they analysed the distribution of the radar cross‐section of the UAV. They also analysed the distributions of the phases and polarisation ratios of the UAV returns in various polarisation modes. They found that the radar cross‐sections of the fixed‐wing UAV in HH and VV polarisation modes obey lognormal distribution. The radar cross‐sections of the UAV in VH and HV polarisation modes obey Weibull distribution. The means of the radar cross‐section in co‐polarisation modes are 8–10 dBsm higher than those in cross‐polarisation modes. The phases of the UAV echo in HH, HV, VH and VV polarisation modes are uniformly distributed within 0 and 2 π . The amplitudes of the polarisation ratios of the UAV echo are well fitted by lognormal distribution.