Passive radar imaging of moving targets in multiple-scattering environments using sparse distributed apertures

Abstract

We present a novel passive image formation method for moving targets using sparse distributed apertures in multiple-scattering environments and non-cooperative sources of opportunity. This method is capable of exploiting information about multiple-scattering in the environment. We develop a passive measurement model that relates measurements at a given receiver to measurements at other receivers. We address the passive imaging problem as a generalized likelihood ratio test for a hypothetical target located at an unknown position, moving with an unknown velocity. We design a linear discriminant functional by maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio of the test-statistic and use the resulting position- and velocity-resolved test-statistic to form the image. We perform numerical simulations to demonstrate the performance of our passive imaging method operating in multiple-scattering environments. © 2012 IEEE.