Potential Accuracy in Estimating Surface Roughness Heights for a Safe Helicopter Landing System

One of the main causes of helicopter crashes is the unreliable methods of ensuring safe landing on unprepared terrain in adverse weather and poor visibility conditions both in the day and night. Most helicopters are equipped with satellite navigation systems and airborne altimeters, which provide the pilot with precise coordinate information while flying and landing. However, such systems do not provide information about the state of the landing site surface, including the location of possible unknown objects. On the other hand, an interferometric radar remote sensing approach enables visualization of the landing site surface and processes signals scattered from surface terrain elements and unknown objects. The article discusses the effect of various parameters of the landing site irradiation on the quality of the resulting picture when using the method of interferometric shooting from the helicopter. In particular, the dependence of the potential accuracy of estimating the heights of dangerous irregularities during landing of an aircraft on an unprepared landing site is considered.