A Modified Radon Fourier Transform for GNSS-Based Bistatic Radar Target Detection

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)-based passive bistatic radar (PBR) which uses the GNSS signal as the illuminators of opportunity is studied for moving target detection (MTD). GNSS-based PBR has many advantages due to the removal of the transmitting device; however, its fundamental limitation is the low power density of the GNSS signal. Therefore, the integration time should be sufficiently long to obtain a promising maximum detectable range. On the other hand, the integration time is limited by the range migration and Doppler migration of the echo caused by target motion. In this letter, a novel MTD algorithm is proposed for the GNSS-based PBR, by employing a modified radon Fourier transform (MRFT) to achieve the required long-time integration for moving targets. The MRFT integrates the echo energy via joint searching of range, Doppler, and Doppler rate of the target, which can handle not only the range migration but also the Doppler migration problems, and significantly improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the echo signal. An experiment using the GPS L5 signal as the illumination source is conducted and a moving car is successfully detected by the proposed algorithm, although significant range migration and Doppler migration are present due to variation of its speed.