Publications

@article{WOS:000794693300001,

title = {Development of the Romanian Radar Sensor for Space Surveillance and 

 Tracking Activities},

author = {Liviu Ionescu and Alexandru Rusu-Casandra and Calin Bira and Alexandru Tatomirescu and Ionut Tramandan and Roberto Scagnoli and Dan Istriteanu and Andrei-Edward Popa},

doi = {10.3390/s22093546},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-05-01},

journal = {SENSORS},

volume = {22},

number = {9},

publisher = {MDPI},

address = {MDPI AG, Grosspeteranlage 5, CH-4052 BASEL, SWITZERLAND},

abstract = {The constant increase in the number of space objects and debris orbiting 

 the Earth poses risks to satellites and other spacecraft, both in orbit 

 and during the launching process. Therefore, the monitoring of space 

 hazards to assess risk and prevent collisions has become part of the 

 European Space Policy and requires the establishment of a dedicated 

 Framework for Space Surveillance and Tracking (EU SST) Support. This 

 article presents the CHEIA SST Radar, a new space tracking radar sensor 

 developed and installed in Romania with the purpose of being included in 

 the EU SST sensor network and of contributing to the joint database of 

 space objects orbiting the Earth. The paper describes the processes of 

 design, simulation, and implementation of the hardware and software 

 building blocks that make up the radar system. It emphasizes the 

 particular case of using an already existing system of two large 

 parabolic antennas requiring an innovative retrofitting design to 

 include them as the basis for a new quasi-monostatic radar using LFMCW 

 probing signals. The preliminary design was validated by extensive 

 simulations, and the initial operational testing carried out in December 

 2021 demonstrated the good performance of the radar in the measuring 

 range and radial speed of LEO space objects.},

keywords = {space; surveillance; tracking; SSA; SST; LEO; radar; monostatic; debris},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}