The demand for supplementing existing airborne radar systems with enhanced forward looking abilities has considerably increased. Available radar systems are not able to accomplish the needed requirements for enhanced vision. Instead a new approach has to be taken to cover the forward lying sector with respect to the flight path. Presently a system called SIREV (Sector Imaging Radar for Enhanced Vision) is under development at DLR> Due to the all-weather capability of the system and its ability to present radar images very similar to optical images either as top view (mapping mode) or as pilot view (central perspective mode) the system is essentially qualified for navigation support, autonomous landing approaches or taxi support at the ground. IN this paper the authors will describe the idea the new SIREV system originates from and the relation of the SIREV principle to the SAR principle. Different modes of operation and thereby obtainable performance numbers will be discussed with regard to the special advantages of each sensor. Some potential applications of either sensor will be explained in detail. Finally a summarized overview of the system under development at DLR together with a description of a test field setup at Oberpfaffenhofen airfield will be given. The SIREV project at DLR was partially funded by STN Atlas Elektronik Bremen. This company also holds the SIREV license rights.

Date Published: 23 June 2000
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 4023, Enhanced and Synthetic Vision 2000, (23 June 2000); doi: 10.1117/12.389352

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 4023:
Enhanced and Synthetic Vision 2000
Jacques G. Verly, Editor(s)