Extracting radar micro-Doppler signatures of helicopter rotating rotor blades using K-band radars

Helicopter identification has been an attractive topic. In this paper, we applied radar micro-Doppler signatures to identify helicopter. For identifying the type of a helicopter, besides its shape and size, the number of blades, the length of the blade, and the rotation rate of the rotor are important features, which can be estimated from radar micro-Doppler signatures of the helicopter’s rotating rotor blades. In our study, K-band CW/FMCW radars are used for collecting returned signals from helicopters. By analyzing radar micro-Doppler signatures, we can estimate the number of blades, the length of the blade, the angular rotation rate of the rotating blade, and other necessary parameters for identifying the type of a helicopter.