Signal characterisation and processing in the forward scatter mode of bistatic passive coherent location systems

Abstract

The transfer of the forward scatter (FS) concept to passive coherent location (FS PCL) systems provides a new emerging area of research. This article is dedicated to the investigation of various aspects of a bistatic passive coherent location (PCL) system operating in the FS mode. For efficient signal processing, appropriate FS PCL system analysis is presented. It is shown that using a relatively small modernisation of traditional signal processing algorithms, a PCL system may effectively operate against stealth and low profile targets crossing or being located in the vicinity of the radar baseline. The FS signals have been analysed in view of finding key effects and parameters influencing the waveforms and spectra which define the overall signal processing. Experimental results are given to validate the presented analysis.

Simultaneous data collection of small maritime targets using multistatic radar and forward scatter radar

“…The chirp rate ratio corresponds to the carrier frequency ratio. The visibility time difference is due to the effect of radar frequency on the FSCS main lobe, the higher frequency giving the narrower lobe [6][7] and thus lower visibility time at the receiver for a given target speed. It can be seen that for the 7.5 GHz carrier, the visibility time is of the order of 30 s. It is also noticeable that there is a difference in the chirp rate of the target signature either side of the zero Doppler baseline crossing point 41 s into the data record.…”

“…The FSR system is a multi-frequency continuous wave (CW) radar developed at the University of Birmingham and is used as part of an ongoing investigation into both target and clutter signatures in the maritime environment [5][6][7][8]. It consists of a single multi-frequency transmit node and a corresponding receive node.…”

Joint Time-Frequency Signal Processing Scheme in Forward Scattering Radar with a Rotational Transmitter

“…The transmitter can transmit any type of modulated signal due to the non-dependent forward scatter signal processing to the types of signal transmitted at the receiver system [15,16]. In a conventional FSR system, the received signal consists of a direct signal from the transmitter and forward scattered signal from the target.…”

“…The Doppler shift will be zero for a stationary target. In most of the publications on FSR, this Doppler shift can be used for target detection, moving target selection, speed determination and trajectory reconstruction [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. The higher the target effective target speed, the higher the Doppler shift in the received signal.…”

“…The FSR system has also been tested for maritime applications [10][11][12]. Recently, new research in FSR is to integrate with MIMO architecture [13] and operate as a passive radar [14,15].…”