Uncertainty Analysis of the Boeing 9-77 VHF RCS Range

摘要

Boeing is currently pursuing certification of their 9-77 indoor compact range facility as a voluntary industrial participant in the ongoing DoD/NIST RCS certification demonstration program. In support of that process, V-EI has applied a novel statistical method for uncertainty analysis to VHF measurements of a canonical target from the Boeing 9-77 range. The dominant error sources in the range were identified and categorized according to their dependence on frequency, aspect angle, and the target under test. Range characterization data were collected on canonical targets and then used to estimate the statistical parameters of each of the errors. Finally, these were incorporated into expressions for the combined RCS measurement uncertainty for a test body whose RCS exhibits many of the characteristics of modern, high-value targets. The results clearly demonstrate the importance of accounting for the tar-get-dependence of the errors and the bias they introduce into the overall uncertainty.