FIELD: radio engineering, communication.
SUBSTANCE: method includes launching a reflector with a known radar cross-section to an artificial Earth satellite orbit, irradiating the reflector with radar signals, receiving and measuring the amplitude of the reflected signals. A minisatellite is carried to the artificial Earth satellite orbit as a radar cross-section reference, said minisatellite having a housing in the form of a rectangular prism and two flat radio-reflecting hinged faces, wherein the faces turn relative to each other to form a dihedral corner reflector, the edge of which is parallel to the lateral edge of the regular prism. The angle α between the faces of the corner reflector is given in a certain range in degrees. During flight, a radar station in the radio visibility zone of which the minisatellite is located is selected according to a given program by GLONASS and/or GPS navigation system receivers and an on-board computer. The method includes determining the position of the centre of mass of the minisatellite relative to the position of the selected radar station, as well as the orientation of axes associated with the coordinate system of the minisatellite relative to the line of vision of the radar station. Simultaneously, the on-board computer calculates and determines the spatial position of the bisector of the angle of the dihedral corner reflector relative to the line of vision of the calibrated radar station and the orientation system of the minisatellite then performs alignment thereof; further, the orientation system of the minisatellite maintains the alignment of the bisector of the angle of the dihedral corner reflector with the line of vision of the calibrated radar station until the end of the calibration session; as a result, the maximum of the main lobe of the scattering pattern of the corner reflector coincides with the line of vision of the calibrated radar station.
EFFECT: high accuracy of calibrating radar stations.
8 cl, 9 dwg
