Field Experiment of Photonic Radar for Low-RCS Target Detection and High-Resolution Image Acquisition

A photonic radar has recently received considerable interest as a next-generation radar due to its capability to generate wideband signals beyond the technical limitations of the conventional radar. In this paper, we design and implement an X-band photonic radar for a low radar cross-section (RCS) target detection and high-resolution image acquisition in real-time. The implemented photonic radar utilizes the photonic frequency quadrupling for the transmitter and detects the dechirped signal by using a delay interferometer and a balanced photo-detector to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The performance of the photonic radar is verified using a commercial hexacopter having a diagonal wheelbase of 1133 mm as a low-RCS target in the field experiments. We show that the implemented photonic radar can successfully detect the drone on the move even though it is 2.7 km away from the radar. In addition, a high-resolution image of the drone, which is far away 1.1 km from the radar, can be obtained in real-time.