Passive bistatic radar using digital video broadcasting–terrestrial receivers as general-purpose software-defined radio receivers

We investigate the use of low-cost digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) receivers as general-purpose software-defined radio (SDR) receivers for passive bistatic radar (PBR) applications. Two DVB-T receivers are synchronized using a common clock to perform coherent measurements. By exploiti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of scientific instruments 2018-10, Vol.89 (10), p.104701-104701
Main Authors: Feng, Weike, Friedt, Jean-Michel, Cherniak, Grigory, Sato, Motoyuki
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bandwidths
Carrier frequencies
Data transmission
Digital broadcasting
Digital television
Digital video
Digital Video Broadcasting
Engineering Sciences
Moving targets
Multistatic radar
Other
Radio receivers
Receivers
Receivers & amplifiers
Scientific apparatus & instruments
Ships
Signal processing
Software
Software radio
Surveillance
Surveillance radar
Traffic volume
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Summary:We investigate the use of low-cost digital video broadcasting-terrestrial (DVB-T) receivers as general-purpose software-defined radio (SDR) receivers for passive bistatic radar (PBR) applications. Two DVB-T receivers are synchronized using a common clock to perform coherent measurements. By exploiting the direct-path signal in the surveillance channel, we use the cross-correlation process to estimate the time offset between the data streams of reference and surveillance channels caused by the universal serial bus communication. We demonstrate the detection of static and moving targets as well as short-range targets, including a landing airplane at 8 km, multiple ships with different velocities, and vehicles within 20 m from the receiver acquiring at a 2 MHz bandwidth, by using Japan’s Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting Terrestrial digital TeleVision (TV) signal broadcast. We also propose to improve the range resolution of the designed PBR system by combining multiple SDR receivers tuned to different carrier frequencies. The designed system and proposed method can be used for various applications, such as airplane navigation, harbor protection, and traffic density monitoring.
ISSN:0034-6748
1089-7623
DOI:10.1063/1.5048132