Preliminary Detection Results Obtained with Experimental Airborne Passive Radar

Abstract

The advantages of passive radars include quiet operation and the ability to detect targets that were designed to be “stealth” for active monostatic radars utilizing higher frequency bands. As the technology of ground-based passive radars is already quite established, airborne passive radars are rather new and are being actively developed. In the paper, we present the first results obtained in the prototype airborne passive radar that instead of its own transmitter utilizes omnipresent Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial (DVB-T) television broadcast. The radar system structure and algorithms are described. Then examples of clearly visible echoes of a fighter jet and a ship are presented.