A. Stove

Passive Multifrequency Forward-Scatter Radar Measurements of Airborne Targets Using Broadcasting Signals

This paper demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of forward-scatter radar (FSR) target detection based on the signals of opportunity made available by standard radio and TV broadcast transmission stations. This passive FSR (P-FSR) operation is obtained by means of a simple and robust correlation process based on self-mixing. This is shown to be very effective in extracting the characteristic FSR modulation produced by airborne targets, from the signals received from frequency modulated, digital audio broadcasting, and digital video broadcasting transmitters of opportunity. Target detectability is discussed as a function of the carrier frequency, the target size, and its height at the baseline crossing. Experimental results are shown using a wide variety of sources of opportunity, target types, baselines, and receiver configurations. The target signatures obtained from the different illuminators are compared and ways of extracting the kinematic parameters of the aircraft are discussed. This validates the claimed effectiveness and robustness of the P-FSR with the presented processing scheme.

Design of a Noise Radar Demonstrator

The NATO SET-225 Research Group is planning a series of live trials of Noise Radar technology to be performed in summer, 2016 at the Fraunhofer FHR Institute in Wachtberg (near Bonn). The preliminary architecture of the Demonstrator to be used in these trials is described starting from aims and requirements and arriving to define the main system functions, the parameters and the signal processor. It results that this low-cost demonstrator, although mostly implemented using commercial (or anyway, available) equipment and components, will be functionally close enough to a fully-developed operational Noise Radar system as much as to allow us to assess the potential performance of the operational radar, together with the potential plan and effort required to deliver such a system.

Potential applications of noise radar technology and related waveform diversity

The advantages of Noise Radar Technology over more conventional radars using deterministic, although sophisticated, waveforms are twofold: Low Probability of Interception/Exploitation of radar signals and mitigation of mutual interference in marine crowded environments. In this frame, the potential applications of Noise Radar Technology are many: two of them are considered in some detail, i. e. battlefield radar and marine radar. Key elements of the design of the transmitted waveforms in both applications are discussed.

The NATO SET-184 noise radar trials

In the frame of the research activities of the NATO SET-184 group, and thanks to the NATO SET Panel support, experimental tests of the Noise Radar Technology have been carried out in (and near to) Warsaw, in the Autumn of 2013. The paper describes why the particular experiments were made, placing them within the context of previous noise radar trials and with those which will be carried out in summer, 2016 in the frame of the ensuing SET 225 research group. The experimental data set and some representative results are critically described.

Multi-height radar images of road scenes at 150 GHz

In this paper we present a series of road scene images recorded with a prototype high resolution low-THz imaging radar. The aim of this study is to assess the images in order to identify and extract features of interest for scene characterisation to aid the development of future autonomous vehicles. Images were recorded at multiple radar heights in order to assess the effect of illumination angle on the selected features. At this stage of research the recorded images are presented and more qualitative analysis of a subset of the features is given.

Distinguishing surfaces with different roughness characteristics by using a wideband device at 300 GHz

In this paper the capability of differentiating surfaces with different roughness characteristics by using bandwidths practical with low TeraHertz (low-THz) devices is discussed. The results presented show that the measured variance from a surface with random surface scatterers decreases as the bandwidth of a transmitted signal increases which allows additional classification of directly illuminated rough surfaces. These findings presented will allow more information to be extracted from images obtained in complex environments whilst keeping the processing complexity low.

Low-THz overhead power cable signatures: The effect of surface features on Low-THz reflectivities

The measurements presented in this paper show that feature extraction can be used to identify objects of interest by making use of the scattering present and angular resolution available when using low TeraHertz (low-THz) (0.1 THz-1 THz) devices. The results shown were obtained by measuring two different types of overhead power cables of similar size but with different surface structure which causes the backscatter from each type of cable at 150GHz to be distinct. The measurements are supported by simulations made that incorporate Bragg mode theory.