SPACECRAFT FOR CALIBRATING RADAR STATION BASED ON RADAR CROSS-SECTION Russian patent published in 2015 - IPC B64G1/22 G01S7/40 F41J2/00 

FIELD: radio engineering, communication.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to spacecraft on-board radar equipment designed for calibrating radar stations based on the radar cross-section. Spacecraft comprises a housing in the form of a rectangular prism (1) with a cross-section (2) in the form of a concave-convex polygon. Two faces (4, 5) of the prism of the same size with radio-reflecting surfaces face inside the housing of the spacecraft. The housing of the spacecraft is provided with two folding flat radio-reflecting plates (6, 7), which are pivotally connected to the faces (8, 9). The plates (6, 7) are provided with opening mechanisms and units for mounting to the prism (1) to form a dihedral comer reflector in the working position. The angle between the faces of the reflector is in the range of (90-Δ)° to (90+Δ)°, where Δ is defined by the condition: 0<Δ<18λ/a, where λ is the wavelength of the radar station being calibrated, a is the size of the face of the reflector. The spacecraft has on-board GLONASS and/or GPS consumer navigation equipment, a microprocessor, a microcontroller and a unit for interfacing the orientation and stabilisation system with the microcontroller.

EFFECT: broader functional capabilities of the spacecraft when calibrating radar stations operating on circularly polarised waves with concurrent reception of reflected signals, and during calibration based on the radar cross-section of high-potential radar stations in low radiation power operating mode.

9 cl, 10 dwg