Experimental study of LTE signals as illuminators of opportunity for passive bistatic radar applications

• Published in: Electronics letters Vol. 50; no. 7; pp. 545 - 547
• Main Authors: Salah, A.A, Raja Abdullah, R.S.A, Ismail, A, Hashim, F, Abdul Aziz, N.H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Stevenage The Institution of Engineering and Technology 27.03.2014; Institution of Engineering and Technology
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Equipments and installations; Exact sciences and technology; illuminator sources; Long Term Evolution; LTE signal; Mobile radiocommunication systems; moving target detection; object detection; passive bistatic radar application; passive radar; radar detection; Radar, sonar and navigation; Radiocommunications; Radiolocalization and radionavigation; Telecommunications; Telecommunications and information theory; passive radar; radar detection; passive bistatic radar application; illuminator sources; LTE signal; object detection; moving target detection; Long Term Evolution; Moving target; Cellular radio; Bistatic radar; Wireless network; Feasibility; Passive system; Experimental study; Target detection
• ISSN: 0013-5194; 1350-911X; 1350-911X
• DOI: 10.1049/el.2014.0237

Passive radars utilising illuminators of opportunity are being actively studied in the field of radar. In the last few years, many illuminator sources have been employed for passive radar applications. However, there have been no published results on the use of the long-term evolution (LTE) signal as a novel source for passive radar applications. For the first time an experimental investigation into the feasibility of LTE-based passive radars for detecting a moving target is presented. A theoretical analysis was conducted on a captured LTE signal in the atmosphere. This was then followed by a field experiment. The preliminary results show that the LTE signal is capable of being an illuminator for passive radars.