Bistatic Radar Positioning of a Moving Target, Using Only Range and Range-Rate Measurements

Abstract

Of the many applications of bistatic (BS) radars, this paper addresses the possibility to replace a monostatic radar with its highly directive antenna, by a coherent BS radar using a single short baseline between the transmitter and the receiver, and no direction measurements. The method applies to a moving target and requires both <i>range</i> and <i>range-rate</i> BS measurements. Theory and field-test results demonstrate, on a two-dimensional scene, how several consecutive pairs of BS <i>range</i> <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$( r )$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <i>range-rate</i> <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$( {\dot{r}} )$</tex-math></inline-formula> measurements of a moving target can provide the target&#x0027;s position, velocity and heading (<i>x, y, v_x, v_y</i>). In a three-dimensional scene, with 5 estimated target parameters (<i>x, y, h, v_x, v_y</i>), a second receiver is needed, not in-line with the original baseline. The <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$( {r,\dot{r}} )$</tex-math></inline-formula> measurements distinguish the suggested concept from most other multistatic radars as well as the well-known multilateration positioning or interferometric angle-of-arrival estimation.