Experimental investigations of the vertical sounding radar layout

One of the problems of modern radio engineering troops is the impossibility of detecting low- altitude small-sized air objects over the position of a radio engineering unit. This is due to the presence of a dead funnel of surveillance radar detection zones. The solution to this problem can be the use of mobile small-sized vertical sounding radars. The article presents the composition and structure of a model of a vertical sounding radar station with a low-element antenna array, as well as the results of its experimental studies. In the course of the experiments, the influence of the structure of the probing signal on the quality of the information received was studied. Ordinary radio pulses, 7- and 13-bit Barker codes with a change in carrier frequency from 48 to 55 MHz, signal duration from 1 to 10 µs, and repetition period from 10 to 300 µs were used as probing signals. An analysis of the results of processing samples of reflected signals by range showed real powerful signal reflections from the underlying surface and the surface cloud layer, as well as small reflections from atmospheric inhomogeneities and air objects, which are of scientific interest. In the process of full-scale tests, a highway aircraft was found, its current coordinates were measured, and a radar portrait of the aircraft was compiled. The results of experimental studies allowed us to conclude that the use of vertical sounding radar stations for detecting low-altitude small-sized air objects and studying the atmosphere is promising. The model of the vertical sounding radar has shown its efficiency and has a great technical potential for further improvement of performance.