Radar Beam Visualization Video Description

Sungmin Kwon, 30 July 2018

This video introduces a consistent multiple-view for radar system simulation.
Multiple simultaneous views help individuals to understand the complex
multi-dimensional state space that occurs in such radar scenarios.

Six views are provided:
a.	Overview from high above
b.	Antenna view over the shoulder of radar antenna
c.	Antenna view focused
d.	Jet oblique view
e.	Ferry oblique view
f.	Simulated radar screen view. 

We try to present many aspects of radar system simulation having various 
operations in one shot by laying those views in parallel and simultaneously 
visualizing right next to each other. Viewpoint descriptions follow.

a. Overview helps users understanding the comprensive simulation scenario.
The antenna is assumed to create a kind of bowtie beam using 1 GHz
electromagnetic wave. It is assumed to be located high on the roof of
Spanagel Hall at  NPS.  The antenna revolves one turn every 12 seconds
and performs target detection.  The antenna detects the air target in the first
revolution and the sea target in the next  rotation. A jet is located about
26 km north-west of the radar, assuming that the Radar Cross Section (RCS)
factor is 1.6. A cruise ship is located 15 km north of the radar, with RCS
value of 2.2. A thick cloud is located far to the north of the radar.

b. Antenna "over the shoulder" view shows the direction where the antenna is 
pointing, above the map. This relative view helps understanding how much the radar 
beam covers terrain from the direct perspective of the radar. By showing the
radar beam coverage surface visually, it shows that the radar energy is only
detectable within it, and helps users to focus on incoming targets within the
radar beam coverage.

c.  Focused antenna view provides a zoomed view into center of main lobe. It has
the advantage of showing the pose and position of an incoming target in detail,
seen from the radar viewpoint.

d, e.  The Jet oblique view and Ferry oblique view each visualize the direction and
power of the radar beam as it actually reaches the target. This shows the correlation
with the radar beam and target from the perspective of each target. If the surface
of the target is red, then the target is in the half-power beamwidth. If the target
is not red, then it is outside of the effective radar beam. As a result, this view
indicates whether the current target is detected by the radar beam.

f. Simulated radar screen view visualizes the reflected power from the targets. 
This view emulates the visual information that radar operators can see on actual radar 
systems. Users can identify the azimuth and distance information of each target from 
antenna. Therefore, the general user can get experience of becoming the radar 
operator virtually.  This also provides an excellent contrast regarding just how
much information (shown in the other views) simply cannot be discerned from classical
radar displays.