Evaluation of candidate millimeter wave radars for synthetic vision

In 1988 the US Federal Aviation Administration, in cooperation with industry, the US Air Force, the US Navy, and several other government organizations, initiated an effort to demonstrate the capabilities of existing technologies to provide an image of the runway and surrounding environment for pilots operating aircraft in low-visibility conditions. This effort was named the synthetic vision technology demonstration (SVTD) program. Its goal was to document and demonstrate aircraft sensor and system performance achieved with pilots using millimeter wave (MMW) radar sensors, a forward-looking infrared (IR) sensor, and a heads-up display (HUD). For the most part, this prototype system used a Honeywell, Inc., 35-GHz MMW radar and a Kodak focal-plane-array IR camera operating in the 3-5-μm region. The authors address selected aspects of the MMW radar sensor performance observed at the tower and in the flight tests, with most attention focused on the Honeywell radar system