Moving Target Detection and Parameter Estimation Using BeiDou GEO Satellites-Based Passive Radar With Short-Time Integration

Abstract

Owing to the global coverage and high visibility of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), passive radar using GNSS satellites as transmitters of opportunity has shown great potential for moving target detection, and its possibility to detect short-range maritime targets has been verified. Nevertheless, the existing methods always require tens of seconds for echo integration, which is not ideal for the detection of targets with high maneuverability. To solve this problem, a bistatic configuration using BeiDou geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites as illuminators of opportunity, which is suited for short-time coherent integration of echo signals, is presented. In addition, the corresponding signal processing method is introduced. To achieve a more continuous trajectory of the target, a method used to fuse range-Doppler maps obtained individually from multiple BeiDou GEO satellites is also described. The effectiveness and functionality of our proposed algorithms are demonstrated with an experiment in which a ferry was used as a moving target and its real-time location data were adopted as a reference.

A Coherent Integration Method for Moving Target Detection in Frequency Agile Signal-Based Passive Bistatic Radar

“…Since the absence of dedicated transmitter equipment, PBR offers many advantages over conventional monostatic active radars, such as contained cost and low maintenance, covert detection, and anti-jamming [4][5][6][7]. With tremendous advances in hardware and signal-processing technology, PBRs are extensively deployed for air traffic control, coastal/maritime protection, and terrestrial vehicle surveillance [8,9]. In addition, another advantage is derived from the geometry of the passive radar system, because it is bistatic.…”

“…The bistatic radar cross-section (RCS) of a target is different from its monostatic RCS, and this will aid target detection and classification. With tremendous advances in hardware and signal-processing technology, PBRs are extensively deployed for air traffic control, coastal/maritime protection, and terrestrial vehicle surveillance [8,9]. At present, a variety of IOs, such as frequency modulation (FM) [10,11], digital television terrestrial multimedia broadcasting (DTMB) [12,13], long-term evolution (LTE) [14], WiFi [15] and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) [16][17][18], are suitable for PBR systems because of their close-to-ideal ambiguity function.…”