High Doppler Resolution Imaging by Multistatic Continuous Wave Radars Using Constructive Techniques

The multistatic radar offers many advantages over monostatic radar in certain applications, especially since the receiving stations may be located at covert and distant sites relative to the transmitting stations. Furthermore, continuous wave radars are relatively simple and inexpensive to employ and maintain. Hence, the impetus for developing a CW multistatic radar system for high-resolution imaging was conceived. This thesis is a proof of concept demonstration that a Doppler-only multistatic radar system can be employed to provide high resolution imaging of airborne targets in support of non-cooperative target recognition. Through an understanding of conventional imaging techniques and formulation of the inverse problem in radar imaging, a demonstration radar model based on one transmitter and two receivers was designed to determine the accurate position and velocity of simulated targets. The extraction errors resulted from the range, bearing and velocity measurements were congruent with the physical limitations of each transmitter receiver pair. Through the employment of a multistatic system, the geometrical diversity allowed these limitations to be overcome.