K.V. Tvardovskiy1, M.V. Mironov2

1 JSC “All-Russian Research Institute” (Moscow, Russia)

1 kilokate@yandex.ru; 2 white_lancer@mail.ru

This paper addresses the task of calibrating a radar antenna reflector using spacecraft. For mobile and relocatable radars, a critical objective is the rapid measurement and elimination of systematic angular coordinate measurement errors induced by radar antenna reflector misalignment. The work aims to assess the feasibility of rapid calibration for an L-band Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) radar antenna reflector using spacecraft. The principal contemporary methods employed for spacecraft-based radar antenna reflector calibration are examined. The paper defines radar antenna reflector calibration as estimating the position of the radar antenna's electrical boresight axis in three angular dimensions. A mathematical framework for determining these three boresight axis orientation angles is proposed. The article provides a detailed description of two proposed methods for calibrating the antenna reflector of an L-band AESA radar:

Active Radar Data Collection: Utilizing active radar tracking of Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) spacecraft, employing orbital data from the NORAD catalog.

Passive Radar Data Collection: Utilizing passive radar methods tracking signals emitted by navigation systems (e.g., GLONASS), employing ephemeris data obtained from the navigation satellites.

The paper presents mathematical modeling of the proposed radar antenna reflector calibration methods. This modeling includes estimates of measurement noise-induced errors, data collection time requirements and the resulting radar antenna reflector calibration error.

An analysis is conducted of experimental results from an L-band AESA radar: calibration of radar antenna reflector based on two data collection sessions using LEO spacecraft and using GLONASS navigation signals. Using the computed radar antenna reflector calibration, the systematic error in measuring angular coordinates (azimuth and elevation) is calculated by tracking a dedicated spacecraft equipped with corner reflectors (ensuring its position determination accuracy is guaranteed to be ≤ 10 meters).

A conclusion is drawn regarding the capability of the proposed calibration methods to achieve rapid calibration (on the order of couple minutes) of the radar antenna reflector using either LEO spacecraft or navigation systems, while achieving a final systematic angular coordinate measurement error on the order of couple arc-minutes.

Tvardovskiy K.V., Mironov M.V. Rapid methods for calibrating the antenna reflector of an L-band multifunctional phased-array radars.
Radiotekhnika. 2026. V. 90. № 4. P. 14−22. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18127/j00338486-202604-03 (In Russian)

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