Probability of target detection in bistatic and multistatic radars

Abstract

In the first part of the work, we evaluate the detection performance of a bistatic radar using a metric called bistatic radar detection coverage probability. The setting considered for the target detection consists of noise as well as clutter scatterers, which creates the need to distinguish the target responses from the noise and clutter responses. The number of clutters is modelled as a Poisson distribution and the location of clutters is modelled as a uniform distribution. The considered noise has been derived from the Johnson-Nyquist noise formula. This setting has been experimentally simulated using Monte Carlo method and the corresponding probability of target detection has been found out under various conditions. The experimental results are used to verify the theoretical results from the formula giving the detection coverage probability directly in terms of target, clutter and radar parameters. In the second part of the work, we go forward and work with multistatic radars under the scenario when there is a single receiver and multiple transmitters, where the no. of transmitters as well as the position of transmitters are not fixed. For a target to be detectable by the multistatic radar, it should be detectable by atleast one transmitter-receiver combination. We use stochastic geometry to find out a theoretical formula for the probability of a target being detected by the multistatic radar. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we experimentally verify the correctness of the formula obtained and it is found that it almost exactly matches the results from the experimental method. We have also analysed various trends of probability of detection on varying the various parameters. The derived formula can be used to gain useful insights on the limits on parameters like the transmitted power and the bandwidth.