Multi-Band Hybrid Active-Passive Radar Sensor Fusion

In this paper the topic of joint active and passive (hybrid) radar detection is introduced and the theoretical benefits are outlined. An experimental hybrid radar setup is presented where a low-cost Software Defined Radio (SDR) based radar system is used for hybrid sensing of targets using active and Passive Bistatic Radar (PBR). Experimental results are presented for simultaneously sensing using an active 2.4 GHz radar and 690 MHz Digital Video Broadcasting - Terrestrial (DVB-T) based PBR mode. The detection performance of each sensor and a joint sensor performance are evaluated, where the joint detection performance is found to exceed that of the individual sensors alone. The ability to reduce active radar transmissions, but still retain a reasonable detection performance, is investigated using experimental data and the case is made for adaptive behaviour in order to exploit the benefits available to hybrid radars.