A near-field bistatic radar cross section calibration method

The PW scattering-matrix theory, originally introduced by Kerns and Dinallo, enables to evaluate the far-field scattering matrix of a target from a near-field illumination and near-field measurements of the scattered field. It compensates the near-field effects as well as the own characteristics of the near-field setup. The mathematical processing, which is used to evaluate the far-field scattering matrix, has been developed step by step. This mathematical extraction requires planar near-field measurements of the field scattered by the target. It also requires the near-field setup to be calibrated. Two different calibration methods have been developed. The first one is based on a two or three-antenna technique and requires a limited number of measurements. The second one uses bistatic RCS measurements. The PW scattering-matrix theory will now be experimented.