Experimental Study of Photonic Based Radar for FOD Detection Systems Using 90 GHz-Band

This paper describes a concept and evaluation results of a Foreign Object of Debris (FOD) detection radar system using Radio on Fiber technologies. Demands for FOD detection system for airports runway is increasing due to explosive growth of air traffic. Since very short wavelength and wide frequency band allocation, 90 GHz-band Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) radar with RoF technology is a good candidate for FOD detection system for runway. We have started a R&D project for 90 GHz-band FMCW radar in 2012 and demonstrated in Sendai Airport using the licensed proto-type radar system. Our demonstration system consists of two radar transmitter/receiver unit with rotating antenna and one control unit with signal generation and data analysis capability. These radar unit and control unit are connected with RoF technology. Precision FMCW signal can be shared and transmitted through optical fiber. On Sendai airport runways, we have demonstrated sample FOD (one inch metallic cylinder, etc.) detection from150 m distance range.