Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2014
Poster Presentation
Organization of Side Lobe Structures from Doppler On Wheels 6 Mobile Radar
Jonathan Alexander Adams and James Cundiff
Faculty Mentor: Redina Herman
Geography
The goal of this research is to reveal characteristics of side lobe beams produced by the
Doppler On Wheels 6 (DOW6) radar antenna using ground clutter signatures in the
radar data. Side lobes are secondary return maxima that are not part of the main lobe
and in some cases may produce “false echoes” and become problematic. The radar
data and resulting imagery reveal that ground clutter signatures were being returned
from either side of the “straight-ahead” location and a double image of the object was
produced. This infers that with increasing scan angles, side lobe structure varies and
that after a certain scanning angle the structure splits and two side lobe beams are
located on either side of the main beam. In addition, the distant and angle between the
side lobe beams from the main beam also increases with increased scanning angles
suggesting that the side lobes may not be symmetrical. This research is beneficial in
that it reveals a structure of unwanted signals produced by the DOW6 radar, increasing
the awareness of the problematic phenomenon and thus decreasing future problems
that may be associated with it.