Passive radar imaging of moving targets with sparsely distributed receivers

Abstract

We develop a novel passive image formation method for moving targets using measurements from a sparse array of receivers that rely on illumination sources of opportunity. We use a physics-based approach to model the wave propagation and develop a passive measurement model that expresses the measurement at each receiver in terms of the measurement at a different receiver. This model eliminates the need for knowledge about the transmitter locations and waveforms in the proposed image formation method. We formulate the image formation problem as a Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (GLRT) for unknown target location and velocity using the proposed passive measurement model. We form the image in spatial and velocity space using the space- and velocity-resolved test-statistics.