Volumetric Radar Visualization System for Aircraft Landing

This article describes a novel approach to the real-time visualization of 3D imagery obtained from a 3D millimeter wave scanning radar. The MMW radar system employs a spinning antenna to generate a fan-shaped scanning pattern of the entire scene. The beams formed this way provide all weather 3D distance measurements (range/azimuth display) of objects as they appear on the ground. Using these image slices we create a full 3D data set the fan-pattern is tilted up and down or rotated 360 degrees with the help of a controlled stepper motor. We developed several visualization techniques to construct geometrically correct volumetric representations and update information in these volumes in real-time as data becomes available. In addition we also introduce hardware supported terrain surface generation from these volumetric data sets with the help of pixel shaders running on the GPU. The system was tested under field conditions in many different situations. For the specific experiments presented here we collected data at 0.1 degrees increments while using both bi-static as well as a mono-static antennas in our arrangement. The data collected formed a stack of range-azimuth images in the shape of a cone. This information is displayed using our high-end 3D visualization engine capable of displaying high-resolution volumetric models with 30 frames per second. The resulting 3D scenes can then be viewed from any angle and subsequently processed to integrate, fuse or match them against real-life sensor imagery or 3D model data stored in a synthetic database. Volume Visualization, Aircraft Landing Systems, 3D Radar