BAESystems researchers are working on technology designed to enable airborne radars to identify enemy aircraft by comparing radar returns with photograph-derived profiles stored in a database.
"We are trying a different approach...we are investigating an approach that uses features," says Robert Miller, executive scientist at BAE Systems Advanced Technology Centre.
A computer-aided design drawing is created based on a photograph of an aircraft and the software is used to predict radar scattering from the model's prominent features, such as delta wings, to produce a "scattering centre model". When a hostile aircraft is detected by radar its prominent features will scatter the returning radar waves, which can then be analysed to achieve identification.
The research is being carried out for the UK's Ministry of Defence Electromagnetic Remote Sensing Defence Technology Centre, which is spending £15 million ($28.4 million) from 2003 to 2006 on projects.
ROB COPPINGER / LONDON
Source: Flight International
