Safe Helicopter Landing on Unprepared Terrain Using Onboard Interferometric Radar

Abstract

This letter proposes a radar interferometric survey system for the ground surface of helicopter landing sites. This system generates high-quality three-dimensional terrain surface topography data and estimates the slope of the site with the required accuracy. This study presents the processing algorithms of the radar system for safe helicopter landing using an interferometric method and also demonstrates the efficiency of the proposed approach based on computer simulation results. The results of the calculated potential accuracy characteristics of such a system are presented, as well as one of the variants of the algorithmic implementation of a simulation computer model implemented on MATLAB. Visual results of modeling using an example of a helicopter landing on a non-uniform surface relief similar to a real case are shown. The study focuses on the simulation of a unique on-board radar system, which allows helicopters to land on an unprepared site with a high degree of safety, having previously determined the presence of dangerous irregularities, inclines, foreign objects, and mechanisms on the site.