Radar reflector
Radar reflector
The reflector, with its three mutually perpendicular surfaces, collects all of the incident energy and sends it back directly in the direction from which it came – analogous to a cat’s eye road reflector in the visible wavelength range. The total energy appears to come directly from the inner corner of the reflector. The position of this rear corner was measured very precisely using GPS, so it can be determined whether the radar data is geometrically precise to within a few centimetres. Possible problems in the hardware can be detected, for example, by an apparent change in the position of the reflector. The strength and phase relationships of the incident horizontally or vertically polarised waves are evaluated with the aim of ensuring that the F-SAR hardware is functioning correctly in the aircraft.
