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I would love to learn more about the types of sensors on these aircraft. I'm wrapping up majors in systems engineering and physics, so reading about things like

I would love to learn more about the types of sensors on these aircraft. I'm wrapping up majors in systems engineering and physics, so reading about things like Synthetic aperture radar [1] makes me foam at the mouth. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_Aperture_Radar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_Aperture_Radar

nosequel 14y ago
You might find some information on Northrop Grumman's site, but don't get too hopeful as the Global Hawk is purposed as being a truck, where the sensors are the good stuff that no one talks about. I'd recommend looking into Northrop and Raytheon if you foam at the mouth when thinking about sensors.
icegreentea 14y ago
The main censor package on the Global Hawk is the Hughes Integrated Surveillance and Reconnaissance radar [1]. It has SAR and Moving Target Indication capability. So not only can you get hi-resolution scans of the target area, you can also automatically discriminate the vehicles from background. I imagine that it would also carry a pretty sophisticated visual/IR sensor system. The Global Hawk was meant to compliment/replace the U2 spyplanes, and THOSE had a resolution of ~2' back in the 70s. [1] http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Radar-and-Electronic-Warfare-Systems/Hughes-Integrated-Surveillance-And-Reconnaissance-HISAR-TM-radar-United-States.html http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Radar-and-Electroni... There are all sorts of other fun things going on with military radar and electronic warfare. The latest generation of radars coming out are typically all solid state and rely on beam forming. They're typically flexible and powerful enough now that the radar unit can be used for some jamming purposes. Some other fun things for you could be Digital RF Memory. Basically, you can play back a received radar pulse after running some DSP on it to create false contacts of different size/shape/location.

nosequel 14y ago

You might find some information on Northrop Grumman's site, but don't get too hopeful as the Global Hawk is purposed as being a truck, where the sensors are the good stuff that no one talks about. I'd recommend looking into Northrop and Raytheon if you foam at the mouth when thinking about sensors.

icegreentea 14y ago

The main censor package on the Global Hawk is the Hughes Integrated Surveillance and Reconnaissance radar [1]. It has SAR and Moving Target Indication capability. So not only can you get hi-resolution scans of the target area, you can also automatically discriminate the vehicles from background. I imagine that it would also carry a pretty sophisticated visual/IR sensor system. The Global Hawk was meant to compliment/replace the U2 spyplanes, and THOSE had a resolution of ~2' back in the 70s. [1] http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Radar-and-Electronic-Warfare-Systems/Hughes-Integrated-Surveillance-And-Reconnaissance-HISAR-TM-radar-United-States.html http://articles.janes.com/articles/Janes-Radar-and-Electroni... There are all sorts of other fun things going on with military radar and electronic warfare. The latest generation of radars coming out are typically all solid state and rely on beam forming. They're typically flexible and powerful enough now that the radar unit can be used for some jamming purposes. Some other fun things for you could be Digital RF Memory. Basically, you can play back a received radar pulse after running some DSP on it to create false contacts of different size/shape/location.