Modeling the Dielectric Constant Distribution of Wake Vortices

Abstract

The study of scattering characteristics of a wake vortex is very important for hazard avoidance, especially near airports. Obtaining the dielectric constant distribution is one of the basic issues in the scattering study for radar detection. The present work proposes a modeling method for the dielectric constant distribution. In the method the dielectric constant variation (also the radar cross section (RCS)) due to the density variation and water vapor variation are studied. Research findings show that the density variation and water vapor variation serve as dominant factors to the RCS of a wake vortex in low frequency band and high frequency band, respectively.