Investigation and experiment of radar systems in unmanned aerial vehicle

Abstract

The advantages and capabilities of the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) offer immense potential for use in both the military and civilian context. Surveillance and terrain mapping are one of the commonly used functions in employing the UAV. In this project, the team will investigate the use of radar system on board a UAV by employing the Frequency Modulated Continuous Wave Synthetic Aperture Radar.

This pioneering project will involve the purchasing of the computer system, boards and cards, antenna, radar system and integrating them together as one. The boards to be included are the PC, Analogue to Digital Converter, Wireless card and Field Programmable Gate Array. The programming on the computer system will be done using C programming language.

Simulations and test for the radar system will have to be done. The transmitter and receiver radar simulations will be carried out using the Advanced Design System and the results will be discussed in this report.

Also, this project will look at how Arduino can be used to enhance the features of the whole UAV system in terms of controlling the servo, employing autopilot, as well as reading of gyroscope sensors and Global Positioning Satellite signals.