TABLE OF CONTENTS 'It has long been an axiom of mine, that the little things are the most important.'
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, A Case of Identity
This chapter examines the mechanisms causing insulators and metallic shapes to reflect and goes on to discuss the reflection to be expected of point objects. It draws on material previously published by the author [1] and by others who are acknowledged in the text.
Radar rays striking an object are partly absorbed as heat and partly scattered or re-radiated, the scatterer acting as an antenna. The scattering mechanism differs between insulators and conductors, but the overall results are generally similar. The component of re-radiation which reaches the radar receiver is the echo. The measure of how well an object returns rays incident on it toward the source is called the radar cross section (RCS), ?, and is a measure of the mean retro-reflecting quality of the target. It describes the apparent target area as seen by the radar. RCS is of prime importance to us, for an object whose RCS is too low or is zero cannot be detected, whatever its physical size. The reflection leaving the device cannot exceed (incoming flux density) (device area). Formal definition of RCS is within Section 7.4.2. Although the formal definition of radar echoing area differs, values are identical and the terms are used interchangeably. The following all assumes that the target lies in the far...
