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

Of the many applications of bistatic (BS) radars, this article addresses the possibility to replace a monostatic radar with its highly directive antenna, with 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 range and range-rate BS measurements. Theory and field-test results demonstrate, on a two-dimensional scene, how several consecutive pairs of BS range (r) and range-rate (˙r) measurements of a moving target can provide the target's position, velocity, and heading (x, y, vx, vy). In a three-dimensional scene, with five estimated target parameters (x, y, h, vx, vy), a second receiver is needed, not in-line with the original baseline. The (ṙr) measurements distinguish the suggested concept from most other multistatic radars as well as the well-known multilateration positioning or interferometric angle-of-arrival estimation.