High-efficiency millimeter wave coherent radar for airport surface movement monitoring and control

The paper outlines the operation principles, technical characteristics and the field tests results of the innovative Ka-band radar for airport surface monitoring. Advantages and disadvantages of operation in the Ka-band with respect to a shorter one, i.e. the W-band, are discussed. It is shown that in the Ka-band the coherent operation regime can be realized. Main performance specifications, principle of operation, and design of the innovative antenna developed for the radar are described in details. The results of the field tests confirm the predicted radar operation characteristics.