Multistatic radar

A multistatic radar system contains multiple spatially diverse monostatic radar or bistatic radar components with a shared area of coverage. An important distinction of systems based on these individual radar geometries is the added requirement for some level of data fusion to take place between component parts.The spatial diversity afforded by multistatic systems allows different aspects of a target to be viewed simultaneously. The potential for information gain can give rise to a number of advantages over conventional systems. A multistatic radar system contains multiple spatially diverse monostatic radar or bistatic radar components with a shared area of coverage. An important distinction of systems based on these individual radar geometries is the added requirement for some level of data fusion to take place between component parts.The spatial diversity afforded by multistatic systems allows different aspects of a target to be viewed simultaneously. The potential for information gain can give rise to a number of advantages over conventional systems. Multistatic radar is often referred to as 'multisite' or 'netted' radar and is comparable with the idea of macrodiversity in communications. A further subset of multistatic radar with roots in communications is that of MIMO radar. Since multistatic radar may contain both monostatic and bistatic components, the advantages and disadvantages of each radar arrangement will also apply to multistatic systems. A system with N {displaystyle N} transmitters and M {displaystyle M} receivers will contain N M {displaystyle NM} of these component pairs, each of which may involve a differing bistatic angle and target radar cross section. The following characteristics are unique to the multistatic arrangement, where multiple transmitter-receiver pairs are present: Increased coverage in multistatic radar may be obtained via the spreading of the radar geometry throughout the surveillance area - such that targets might be more likely to be physically closer to transmitter receiver-pairs and thus attain a higher signal-to-noise ratio. Spatial diversity may also be beneficial when combining information from multiple transmitter-receiver pairs which have a shared coverage. By weighting and integrating individual returns (such as through likelihood ratio based detectors), detection can be optimised to place more emphasis on stronger returns obtained from certain monostatic or bistatic radar cross section values, or from favourable propagation paths, when making a decision as to whether a target is present. This is analogous to the use of antenna diversity in an attempt to improve links in wireless communications.