Low-Cost Implementation of a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Radar Prototype for Drone Detection

Abstract

The usage of micro-Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has witnessed an enormous increase recently. Detection of such drones became a necessity nowadays to prevent any harmful activities. Typically, such targets have low velocity and low Radar Cross Section (RCS), making them indistinguishable from clutter and phase noise. Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Radars have many potentials; they increase the degrees of freedom on both transmit and receive ends. Such architecture allows for flexibility in operation, through utilizing the direct access to every element in the transmit/ receive array. MIMO systems allow for several array processing techniques, permitting the system to stare at targets for longer times, which improves the Doppler resolution. In this paper, a 2 $\times$ 2 low-cost MIMO radar prototype is developed using Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology, and its performance is evaluated against a slow-moving low radar cross section micro-UAV used by hobbyists.