Dielectric strings: A low clutter method for bistatic RCS measurements

Bistatic RCS measurements have seen a recent resurgence as interest in passive coherent location (PCL) systems and other survivable detection schemes has increased. Low RCS bistatic measurements in particular provide a unique challenge to the RCS metrologist as noise, clutter, and interfering signals become significant relative to the desired signal. Traditional methods for supporting the bistatic antenna/receiver often provide a significant source of moving clutter that interacts strongly with the target. This paper presents a new low clutter method based on recent advances in string-based target support systems. A simple experiment is described and the resulting fixed angle bistatic measurement results are qualitatively analyzed, clearly demonstrating the benefits of the proposed methodology.