Evaluating the effects of material reflectivity and atmospheric attenuation on photonic radar performance in free space optical channels

Abstract The automotive industry is on the verge of embracing autonomous vehicles in the near future. In the pursuit of developing self-driving cars, photonic radars have emerged as a reliable sensor technology. These radars operate based on free space optical channels, but they are vulnerable to various atmospheric challenges. In this research, the objective is to examine the effect of material reflectivity on target recognition by utilizing photonic radar under various atmospheric conditions within free space optical channels. We explore four distinct scenarios representing targets with reflectivity ranging from 90 % to 20 %. The findings of this study indicate a decrease in received signal strength as reflectivity decreases across all analysed atmospheric conditions. The key findings include successful detection of stationary targets at a 1000-m range, the impact of target reflectivity on echo signal intensity and resolution, and the system’s effective performance in detecting targets even in dense fog conditions of up to 50 dB/km and are further validated through theoretical analysis.