A Real-Time Monitoring Method for Civil Aircraft Take-Off and Landing Based on Synthetic Aperture Microwave Radiation Technology

Sensors (Basel). 2022 May 12;22(10):3675. doi: 10.3390/s22103675.

Abstract

It is important to monitor the take-off and landing of civil aircraft using passive detection methods. Due to the strict aircraft safety requirements and the electromagnetic environment around an airport, using too many active detection methods should be avoided. Using an aircraft's microwave radiation signal detection is very advantageous because it does not actively emit signals and has a strong cloud penetration, suitable for all-weather observation. This paper introduces a synthetic aperture microwave radiation system for monitoring the take-off and landing of civil aircraft, which is characterized by real-time two-dimensional imaging, and the image refresh rate can reach 10 ms, which meets the high refresh rate requirements for aircraft imaging. Applicable system parameters and antenna array distribution scheme and imaging algorithm are given. Then the paper focuses on the error analysis and correction method of the system. The correction method is simple and fast, which avoids the disadvantage that the error needs to be corrected regularly in the laboratory environment, and is suitable for airport application. Finally, the simulation and experimental results show that this technology can be used for real-time monitoring of civil aircraft during take-off and landing, and it is a practical means to assisting landing.

Keywords: auxiliary landing; civil aircraft; error correction; inverse imaging; radiometer; synthetic aperture.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Astronomical Joint Fund of National Natural Science Foundation of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. U1831114).