N08-141 TITLE: Design and Optimization of Radar Systems to Assist Rotorcraft Piloting in Adverse Environments

TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Sensors, Electronics, Battlespace

ACQUISITION PROGRAM: PMA-261, CH-53K Heavy Lift Helicopter, ACAT I; PMA-209

OBJECTIVE: Develop innovative analysis tools for the design and optimization of Ka through W band radar systems for rotorcraft piloting in adverse environments. The sensors are to support the safe approach and landing during brownout, whiteout, and sea spray as well as improved safety for night and no/low visibility low altitude pilotage.

DESCRIPTION: Rotorcraft routinely operate in brownout conditions during their approach to landing and during take off in desert environments. Snow and sea spray can also produce similar degraded visual environments. The reduction in visibility presents a danger from unseen aircraft maneuvering nearby, uneven terrain, wires and other obstacles. Even in what is considered good visibility conditions, the visual detection of electrical power lines is difficult.

The design and optimization tools should be able to provide analysis in support of tradeoffs between near-field and far-field sensor performance, interaction of the antenna/array with the airframe, achievable radar beam width and resultant angular resolution of the radar imagery, consider the impact of polarimetry techniques to improve the detection and discrimination of power lines in a high clutter background. Consideration should be given to modeling the effects of precipitation, sea spray and dust clouds. In the case of dust clouds, particles of particular interest range in size around 60 microns (i.e. particles which impact visibility), and are at concentrations of 0.25 to 3 grams per cubic meter. The analysis capability shall also address the sensor system’s ability to display surface objects that would damage the aircraft (including rotor blades) during the final portion of the approach and to detect objects that have moved during final portion of decent.

We desire innovative analytical/numerical, exact or approximate physics methodologies that can provide fast solutions to these problems. These methodologies should be capable of handling large targets with small features (large/small scale capable); they should provide highly accurate results for far-field quantities and accurate ones for near-field ones; and they should be able to handle a variety of materials besides perfect conductors. They should provide solutions faster than accepted exact frequency-domain methods but slower than purely high-frequency methods (UTD, PTD, etc). The latter are excluded from this call. This topic is restricted to frequency-domain methods.

PHASE I: Determine feasibility of proposed solution to address the problems above. The proposed methodology should be based in the frequency domain. Demonstrate by either analytical and/or computational methods, the capability of the proposed method.

PHASE II: Develop and demonstrate proposed methodology. Demonstrate accuracy, robustness and speed of the established method. Develop a prototype electromagenetics tool incorporating new methodology and including a user-interactive graphical user interface (GUI).

PHASE III: Refine methodology and tool developed in Phase II either alone or in partnership with another company and transition to the fleet.

PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: The tool developed in this project will find applications among commercial airframe builders, antenna houses, communications equipment manufacturers, etc.

REFERENCES:
1. J. J. H. Wang, Generalized moment methods in electromagnetics. New York: Wiley & Sons, 1991.

2. J. L. Volakis, A. Chatterjee and L. C. Kempel, Finite Element Method for Electromagnetics. New York: IEEE Press, 1998.

3. M. S. Tasic and B. M. Kolundzija, "PO driven iterative Galerkin solution of field integral equations", 2006 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium Digest, pp.4073-4076.

4. Park, M. "Millimeter-Wave Polarimetric Radar Sensor for Detection of Power Lines in Strong Clutter Background" PhD Dissertation, University of Michigan, 2003.

5. http://www.darpa.mil/sto/solicitations/BAA06-45/index.html.

KEYWORDS: Brownout; RF sensors; Large Platforms; Small Features; Fast Electromagnetic Solvers; Frequency Domain.

** TOPIC AUTHOR (TPOC) **

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