This is a blog about how to reproduce the propagation path of radars, radios, avionics, and altimeters. What we do at Eastern OptX—through technology and magic—is to reproduce the true path between the transmitted signal and the received signal. We replicate the path of the signal by providing “space” in between the transmitter and receiver. We generate that space. When you test radar through that space, it looks the same—as if you were using the radar for its intended purpose in the real world. We can take that space, put it in a box, and put it in your laboratory. (More on that in later blogs.)

Hopefully this topic is of interest to you. If you do this type of work in your job (or manage people that do), there are many aspects of this technology to be explored and understood.

Readers who will enjoy this blog include: radio and radar system people, equipment test people, altimeter people, also subsystems people and the people who work with them. You might, for example, be someone who has to test and verify all the equipment purchased by a government agency, to make sure it’s working as specified. You might have a situation where you are prohibited from radiating. You could face restrictions because of interference, other transmissions in that frequency range, or you because what you are transmitting is confidential. Maybe you don’t want anyone to know that you are broadcasting, let alone what you are broadcasting. There are some transmissions that are never broadcasted: they never want to radiate, but they still have to verify that it works. The good news is that you can radiate into the tool, and verify the transmission through the tool.

Although the applications are different, the propagation path is common to all. Eventually, you will want to reproduce the path—so you won’t need to go out to the field and fly planes, drive vehicles, and deploy ships. As we discuss the top issues, we will introduce you to a “solution in a box” that alleviates field-testing. These systems will save time and money (as well as headaches). And, not to leave out altimeter folks, who speak the language of avionics, we will also address issues for radar altimeters.

In this blog, I will provide useful test information—test data for radar, avionics, altimeter, and radio testing. We will show test results from radar range testing—results from aircraft flight simulations over replicated flight paths in a variety of terrains and altitudes. For example, you will be able to detect a low-flying aircraft over an ocean or a high-flying aircraft over mountains or heavily foliated areas.

We will explore the issues of propagation paths, including:

INTRODUCTION

· What does the propagation path look like?

· Why do you have to replicate it?

· What exactly do you do to reproduce it?

PRECAUTIONS

· Where should you be cautious when reproducing the propagation path?

· Distance, loss, and obstacles to be considered

· Multi-path and Doppler effects

RESULTS

· How well are we reproducing the path?

· What kind of results will we get? What does the data look like?

· How accurately was I able to predict what happened in the propagation path—how close was it to the real world?

 If you made it to the end of this blog, then you are probably a good target for this information. Next time will start with the basics, outlined in Introduction above. Hopefully you’ll drop in for a blog or two!