Question

Outline the principles of operation of a radar altimeter, including an explanation of the factor that control its horizontal and vertical spatial resolution.

Answer 1

It is a telemetric device basically used on airplanest to measure the alitude above the terrain presently beneath an aircraft by timing how long it takes a beam of radio waves to reflect from the ground and return to the plane. This type of altimeter provides the distance between the antenna and the ground directly below it. The system transmits radio waves down to the ground and measures the time it takes them to be reflected back up to the aircraft.

For control of vertical anand horizontal resolution, the system use sub-principles as frequency-modulated delay wave, delay-Doppler altimetry along with it involves several correcting factors inclusion for the ionosphere, wet condition and varying optical density of medium.