Radar cross-section (RCS) is the cross section of an object as seen by a radar. A larger RCS indicates that an object is more easily detected.
The size of the radar cross section is defined by the following parameters (source):
- the target's material
- the size of the target relative to the wavelength of the illuminating radar signal;
- the absolute size of the target;
- the incident angle (angle at which the radar beam hits a particular portion of the target, which depends upon the shape of the target and its orientation to the radar source);
- the reflected angle (angle at which the reflected beam leaves the part of the target hit; it depends upon incident angle);
- the polarization of the transmitted and the received radiation with respect to the orientation of the target.
The following video shows in a simple experimental set-up how to measure the radar cross section of an object with SkyRadar's training radars. You can measure the RCS with our NextGen 8 GHz Pulse Radar.
