Analysing Multibeam, Cooperative, Ground Based Radar in a Bistatic Configuration

Recent advances in digital beam forming for phased arrays in combination with digital signal processing should enable the development of multibeam radar in a bistatic configuration. In the bistatic setting, the pulse travelling outward from the transmitter should be followed or “chased” by the receiver. During transmission, depending on the location of the transmitter, receiver, and pulse, the number of digital beams and their location at the transmitter vary. In this paper, we analyse the geometrically depending number of digital beams and the beam switching rate of the receiver needed for pulse chasing. In addition, we derive the pulse repetition frequency (PRF) for the bistatic configuration based on the desired detection range. It is shown that the PRF in the bistatic case can be increased compared to its monostatic counterpart when the distance between the transmitter and the receiver is increased. Our results are applied on the scenario of an air traffic control radar to show the feasibility of a multibeam, ground based bistatic surveillance radar. It will be demonstrated that the maximum PRF can almost be doubled and an adaptive sensing and tracking paradigm can lead to a maximum of 64 simultaneous receiver beams for the bistatic surveillance and tracking setting.