Doppler Radar
Also: LabRadar
Radar that tracks a bullet through its flight to measure velocity at many points and derive a true, measured drag curve for that projectile.
A Doppler radar measures a bullet’s speed by reading the frequency shift in radar waves reflected off the moving projectile. Unlike an optical chronograph, which records velocity at a single screen near the muzzle, the radar can follow the bullet downrange and report its speed at many points along the path. That stream of velocity-versus-distance data is far richer than a single muzzle reading.
Because the radar captures how quickly the bullet loses speed, it can yield a measured drag model rather than an assumed one, which in turn refines the ballistic coefficient used in a solver. For the most demanding work, this data supports a custom drag model tailored to one specific bullet rather than a generic reference curve.