B. Dawidowicz

DPCA Detection of Moving Targets in Airborne Passive Radar

A new approach to the passive coherent location (PCL) signal processing technique dedicated for use on mobile radar platforms is presented. The main goal of the research conducted was to present different aspects of an efficient space-time ground moving target indication (GMTI) algorithm for PCL radar mounted to airborne platforms. The algorithm described, based on displacement phase center antenna (DPCA), has been successfully tested with simulated and real-life data collected with an airborne passive radar demonstrator (PaRaDe).

Detection of moving targets with multichannel airborne passive radar

Passive radars, i.e., radars that use existing transmitters as illuminators of opportunity, have witnessed a fast progress in the last decade. Recent developments in many countries [1-5] refer to systems that use commercial transmitters (e.g., FM radio, DAB, DVB-T, GSM) and apply advanced signal processing technology to the received signal. The technology, known also by passive coherent location (PCL), is reaching its maturity stage, as some final products appear on the market [6, 7]. Most of these systems are stationary, ground-based passive radars.

Experimental results from PCL radar on moving platform

In the paper the detailed discussion of experimental results PCL measurement campaign is presented. The main goal of the experiment which has been made by Warsaw University of Technology in December 2007 was acquisition real signals from moving PCL radar for algorithm testing.

The concept of airborne passive radar

This paper presents the concept of an airborne passive radar and the preliminary results of the experiments carried out using two mobile platforms: a car and an aircraft. In the research conducted for the study of this concept, a passive radar mounted to an aircraft was used. The radar utilizes signals transmitted by illuminators of opportunity, e.g. FM radio or DVB-T transmitters. In this way, it is possible for the aircraft to be equipped with a low cost, lightweight, low-power consuming and undetectable radar with a relatively long range. To verify the concept, two experiments with passive radar on a moving platform were carried out. In this paper the results of the experiments are presented, showing the potential of airborne passive radar.

Passive radar for airborne platform protection

The paper presents the idea of the application of passive radar on board of an airplane. The aim of the passive coherent location (PCL) system is to provide surveillance information to the pilot (or autopilot), to detect the targets in the surveillance space, and to protect the platform from collisions and other threats. The PCL system can use the available emitters of opportunity, mainly digital terrestrial TV (DVB-T) transmitters. Other sources of illuminations, such as analogue (FM) or digital radio (DAB) can be used as well.

Analysis of SAR images quality degradation factors

Quality of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is very sensitive for both pulse signal spectrum purity and stability of the radar platform flight path. In this paper detailed influence of this factors on SAR images quality is analyzed. Analysis is based mainly on computer simulations. This kind of analysis is very important because not all SAR image degradation factors can be compensated using digital signal processing algorithms.

Hardware system concept For student's space synthetic aperture radar (ESA SSETI-ESMO project)

In this paper a concept of a cheap, lightweight, low power satellite radar for Moons surface mapping is presented. This radar is designed to work in two modes: two-dimensional imaging (Synthetic Aperture Radar - SAR) and three-dimensional imaging (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar - IfSAR). The proposed radar system performs the functions both of a radar system and a high data rate communication system. This enables costs and weight reduction which is very important in space applications.

Detection of slow moving targets in SAR images using STAP processing with two-channel sigma-delta antenna

To obtain moving target detection in SAR images, strong signals from nonmoving objects (ground clutter) have to be removed. In the classical approach for single channel SAR data, simple FIR filtering or frequency-domain filtering is used. The disadvantage of this approach is significant weakening or masking of moving target echo (by either wide transition band or limited attenuation in stopband), which makes the detection possible only for targets that are strong and well separated in frequency domain. This can be overcome by STAP technique for multi channel SAR data. In this paper, the analysis of channel mismatch influence on slow moving target detection is performed for the case of two channel sigma-delta antenna

Performance analysis of digital compression filters for radar application

The paper presents accuracy analyses of digital compression line which consists of digital quadrature detector, simple decimator and matched filter. Up to now analogue quadrature detectors are commonly used for many applications. These detectors suffer from bias and channel balance problems. However, the problem disappears while using digital solution. The main goal was to decrease the computation complexity needed for the processing without loosing the detection accuracy. It was achieved by using the class of digital quadrature detector with sampling frequency four times of IF frequency and simple phase correction filters.