B.B. Pankov1, E.E. Smirnov2, S.G. Vorona3

1–3  Military Space Academy named after A.F. Mozhajskij (St. Petersburg, Russia)

The energy potential of the radar is evaluated at the stage of testing when accompanied by reference spacecraft-calibration spheres. At the same time, special attention is paid to the readiness and serviceability of the radar equipment for conducting measurements and providing tests with high-precision data on the position in space and the effective scattering area (ESA) of the reference spacecraft. However, during the normal operation of the radar, it is often not possible to provide such conditions – the state of the radar equipment during measurements is constantly changing, and the limited number of calibration spheres in orbit does not allow measurements to be carried out with sufficient frequency. At the same time, in the radar field of view, there are constantly associated spacecraft for various purposes, measurements of the trajectory parameters of which can be used to assess the energy potential of the radar in real time. When making such measurements, it is necessary to take into account the actual state of the radar equipment and the fluctuations of the signal reflected from the spacecraft of complex shape. The presented model describes the factors that affect the instability of the energy potential during the operation of the radar in real operating conditions when accompanied by associated spacecraft, and allows us to identify the most significant of them. Currently, there are radar models that take into account the features of tracking space objects when changing the conditions for the propagation of electromagnetic waves in space, maneuvering targets, when observing targets against the background of interference, and others. At the same time, the combination of changes in the energy parameters of the radar and the reflected signal in these models was not fully considered. The need to create a model for the operation of a radar station in conditions of instability of the energy potential is also due to the development of technologies for creating small-sized spacecraft, the main distinguishing feature of which is the low radar visibility for stations in the decimeter range. As the ESA decreases, the power of the signal received by the antenna decreases, which increases the relative measurement error and increases the probability of a false target miss.

Small-sized spacecraft are understood to be spacecraft with linear dimensions of the order of 0,1x0,1x0,1 m. The ESA of such objects varies in the range from a few hundredths to units of square meter σэф = (0,01…4) m2.

Pankov B.B., Smirnov E.E., Vorona S.G. Model of radar station functioning in energy potential instability conditions. Achievements of modern radioelectronics. 2021. V. 75. № 9. P. 62–68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18127/j20700784-202109-05 [in Russian]

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