Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine September 2017 - 29

amplitude due to the frequency windowing: α = 0.5442 in the case
of a Kaiser window with β = 5.

The SYMA quadcopter was placed over the platform and a complete measurement with antennas in vertical polarization was car-

ried out. The distance between the antennas and the rotation center
was 156 cm. The angular step was 1 deg. By using a Kaiser window with β = 5, a 500 MHz bandwidth gives a Full Width at Half
Maximum (FWHM) equal to 0.54 m (larger than the size of the
quadcopter). The measured angular pattern of RCS is shown in
Figure 4. The largest values are in correspondence of the four motors. The measured main value of the RCS was 0.0312 m2.
By rotating the antennas, the RCS of the SYMA quadcopter
was also measured in horizontal polarization. The obtained main
value has been 0.0229 m2. There are not substantial differences
with respect to the RCS pattern in vertical polarization.
The same measurements have been performed with the AirVision quadcopter. The measured angular pattern of RCS in vertical
polarization is shown in Figure 5. For this quadcopter, the largest
RCS values are in front and back. The main value is 0.271 m2.
By rotating the antennas, the RCS of AirVision quadcopter was
also measured in horizontal polarization. The obtained main value
has been 0.2759 m2. There are no substantial differences between
the RCS patterns in horizontal and vertical polarizations. Table 1
summarizes the obtained results.
Just a note about the distance between antenna and target:
for both the UAVs it was 156 cm. The RCS of a target should be
measured in the far field both of antenna and of target. The first

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

THE UAVS UNDER TEST
As a representative toy drone we selected a SYMA X5SC-1 quadcopter (Figure 2). Although it is provided with a 2.0 Megapixel
camera, it is intended to be a low-cost toy not for professional use.
It is powered by a built-in 500 mAh Li-Poli battery. The distance
from the motors is 16 cm. Their height from the ground is 4.5 cm.
The frame and the blades are made of plastic material.
We selected a NT4Contra quadcopter, manufactured by AirVision (Figure 6), as representative professional UAV. It has four
pairs of engines with counter-rotating blades. The frame is made of
carbon. It is powered by two 4,600 mAh Li-Poli batteries housed
in the legs. Below the head there is a dock for a camera (not provided). The distance from the motors is 36 cm. The height of the
motors from ground is 22 cm (Figure 3).

RCS MEASUREMENTS

SYMA quadcopter.

SEPTEMBER 2017

AirVision quadcopter.

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

29



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