The concept of airborne passive radar

Abstract

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.