Passive Synthetic Aperture Radar Imaging Using Commercial OFDM Communication Networks

Modern communication systems provide myriad opportunities for passive radar applications. OFDM is a popular waveform used widely in wireless communication networks today. Understanding the structure of these networks becomes critical in future passive radar systems design and concept development. This research develops collection and signal processing models to produce passive SAR ground images using OFDM communication networks. The OFDM-based WiMAX network is selected as a relevant example and is evaluated as a viable source for radar ground imaging. The monostatic and bistatic phase history models for OFDM are derived and validated with experimental single dimensional data. An airborne passive collection model is defined and signal processing approaches are proposed providing practical solutions to passive SAR imaging scenarios. Finally, experimental SAR images using general OFDM and WiMAX waveforms are shown to validate the overarching signal processing concept

On CSI and Passive WiFi Radar for Opportunistic Physical Activity Recognition

The use of Wi-Fi signals for human sensing has gained significant interest over the past decade. Such techniques provide affordable and reliable solutions for healthcare-focused events such as vital sign detection, prevention of falls and long-term monitoring of chronic diseases, among others. Currently, there are two major approaches for Wi-Fi sensing: (1) passive Wi-Fi radar (PWR) which uses well established techniques from bistatic radar, and channel state information (CSI) based wireless sensing (SENS) which exploits human-induced variations in the communication channel between a pair of transmitter and receiver. However, there has not been a comprehensive study to understand and compare the differences in terms of effectiveness and limitations in real-world deployment. In this paper, we present the fundamentals of the two systems with associated methodologies and signal processing. A thorough measurement campaign was carried out to evaluate the human activity detection performance of both systems. Experimental results show that SENS system provides better detection performance in a line-of-sight (LoS) condition, whereas PWR system performs better in a non-LoS (NLoS) setting. Furthermore, based on our findings, we recommend that future Wi-Fi sensing applications should leverage the advantages from both PWR and SENS systems

DVB-S based passive polarimetric ISAR – methods and experimental validation

In this work, we focus on passive polarimetric ISAR for ship target imaging using DVB-S signals of opportunity. A first goal of the research is to investigate if, within the challenging passive environment, different scattering mechanisms, belonging to distinct parts of the imaged target, can be separated in the polarimetric domain. Furthermore, a second goal is at verifying if polarimetric diversity could enable the formation of ISAR products with enhanced quality with respect to the single channel case, particularly in terms of better reconstruction of the target shape. To this purpose, a dedicated trial has been conducted along the river Rhine in Germany by means of an experimental DVB-S based system developed at Fraunhofer FHR and considering a ferry as cooperative target. To avoid inaccuracies due to data-driven motion compensation procedures and to fairly interpret the polarimetric results, we processed the data by means of a known-motion back-projection algorithm obtaining ISAR images at each polarimetric channel. Then, different approaches in the polarimetric domain have been introduced. The first one is based on the well-known Pauli Decomposition. The others can be divided in two main groups: (i) techniques aimed at separating the different backscattering mechanisms, and (ii) image domain techniques to fuse the polarimetric information in a single ISAR image with enhanced quality. The different considered techniques have been applied to several data sets with distinct bistatic geometries. The obtained results clearly demonstrate the potentialities of polarimetric diversity that could be fruitfully exploited for classification purposes

OFDM passive radar employing compressive processing in MIMO configurations

A key advantage of passive radar is that it provides a means of performing position detection and tracking without the need for transmission of energy pulses. In this respect, passive radar systems utilising (receiving) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communications signals from transmitters using OFDM standards such as long term evolution (LTE), WiMax or WiFi, are considered. Receiving a stronger reference signal for the matched filtering, detecting a lower target signature is one of the challenges in the passive radar. Impinging at the receiver, the OFDM waveforms supply two-dimensional virtual uniform rectangul ararray with the first and second dimensions refer to time delays and Doppler frequencies respectively. A subspace method, multiple signals classification (MUSIC) algorithm, demonstrated the signal extraction using multiple time samples. Apply normal measurements, this problem requires high computational resources regarding the number of OFDM subcarriers. For sub-Nyquist sampling, compressive sensing (CS) becomes attractive. A single snap shot measurement can be applied with Basis Pursuit (BP), whereas l1-singular value decomposition (l1-SVD) is applied for the multiple snapshots. Employing multiple transmitters, the diversity in the detection process can be achieved. While a passive means of attaining three-dimensional large-set measurements is provided by co-located receivers, there is a significant computational burden in terms of the on-line analysis of such data sets. In this thesis, the passive radar problem is presented as a mathematically sparse problem and interesting solutions, BP and l1-SVD as well as Bayesian compressive sensing, fast-Besselk, are considered. To increase the possibility of target signal detection, beamforming in the compressive domain is also introduced with the application of conve xoptimization and subspace orthogonality. An interference study is also another problem when reconstructing the target signal. The networks of passive radars are employed using stochastic geometry in order to understand the characteristics of interference, and the effect of signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR). The results demonstrate the outstanding performance of l1-SVD over MUSIC when employing multiple snapshots. The single snapshot problem along with fast-BesselK multiple-input multiple-output configuration can be solved using fast-BesselK and this allows the compressive beamforming for detection capability

Cooperative Coherent Multistatic Imaging and Phase Synchronization in Networked Sensing

Coherent multistatic radio imaging represents a pivotal opportunity for forthcoming wireless networks, which involves distributed nodes cooperating to achieve accurate sensing resolution and robustness. This paper delves into cooperative coherent imaging for vehicular radar networks. Herein, multiple radar-equipped vehicles cooperate to improve collective sensing capabilities and address the fundamental issue of distinguishing weak targets in close proximity to strong ones, a critical challenge for vulnerable road users protection. We prove the significant benefits of cooperative coherent imaging in the considered automotive scenario in terms of both probability of correct detection, evaluated considering several system parameters, as well as resolution capabilities, showcased by a dedicated experimental campaign wherein the collaboration between two vehicles enables the detection of the legs of a pedestrian close to a parked car. Moreover, as \textit{coherent} processing of several sensors' data requires very tight accuracy on clock synchronization and sensor's positioning -- referred to as \textit{phase synchronization} -- (such that to predict sensor-target distances up to a fraction of the carrier wavelength), we present a general three-step cooperative multistatic phase synchronization procedure, detailing the required information exchange among vehicles in the specific automotive radar context and assessing its feasibility and performance by hybrid Cram\'er-Rao bound.Comment: 13 page

Opportunistic radar imaging using a multichannel receiver

Bistatic Synthetic Aperture Radars have a physically separated transmitter and receiver where one or both are moving. Besides the advantages of reduced procurement and maintenance costs, the receiving system can sense passively while remaining covert which offers obvious tactical advantages. In this work, spaceborne monostatic SARs are used as emitters of opportunity with a stationary ground-based receiver. The imaging mode of SAR systems over land is usually a wide-swath mode such as ScanSAR or TOPSAR in which the antenna scans the area of interest in range to image a larger swath at the expense of degraded cross-range resolution compared to the conventional stripmap mode. In the bistatic geometry considered here, the signals from the sidelobes of the scanning beams illuminating the adjacent sub-swath are exploited to produce images with high cross-range resolution from data obtained from a SAR system operating in wide-swath mode. To achieve this, the SAR inverse problem is rigorously formulated and solved using a Maximum A Posteriori estimation method providing enhanced cross-range resolution compared to that obtained by classical burst-mode SAR processing. This dramatically increases the number of useful images that can be produced using emitters of opportunity. Signals from any radar satellite in the receiving band of the receiver can be used, thus further decreasing the revisit time of the area of interest. As a comparison, a compressive sensing-based method is critically analysed and proves more sensitive to off-grid targets and only suited to sparse scene. The novel SAR imaging method is demonstrated using simulated data and real measurements from C-band satellites such as RADARSAT-2 and ESA’s satellites ERS-2, ENVISAT and Sentinel-1A. In addition, this thesis analyses the main technological issues in bistatic SAR such as the azimuth-variant characteristic of bistatic data and the effect of imperfect synchronisation between the non-cooperative transmitter and the receiver

MIMO Radar Waveform Design and Sparse Reconstruction for Extended Target Detection in Clutter

This dissertation explores the detection and false alarm rate performance of a novel transmit-waveform and receiver filter design algorithm as part of a larger Compressed Sensing (CS) based Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) bistatic radar system amidst clutter. Transmit-waveforms and receiver filters were jointly designed using an algorithm that minimizes the mutual coherence of the combined transmit-waveform, target frequency response, and receiver filter matrix product as a design criterion. This work considered the Probability of Detection (P D) and Probability of False Alarm (P FA) curves relative to a detection threshold, τ th, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC), reconstruction error and mutual coherence measures for performance characterization of the design algorithm to detect both known and fluctuating targets and amidst realistic clutter and noise. Furthermore, this work paired the joint waveform-receiver filter design algorithm with multiple sparse reconstruction algorithms, including: Regularized Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (ROMP), Compressive Sampling Matching Pursuit (CoSaMP) and Complex Approximate Message Passing (CAMP) algorithms. It was found that the transmit-waveform and receiver filter design algorithm significantly outperforms statically designed, benchmark waveforms for the detection of both known and fluctuating extended targets across all tested sparse reconstruction algorithms. In particular, CoSaMP was specified to minimize the maximum allowable P FA of the CS radar system as compared to the baseline ROMP sparse reconstruction algorithm of previous work. However, while the designed waveforms do provide performance gains and CoSaMP affords a reduced peak false alarm rate as compared to the previous work, fluctuating target impulse responses and clutter severely hampered CS radar performance when either of these sparse reconstruction techniques were implemented. To improve detection rate and, by extension, ROC performance of the CS radar system under non-ideal conditions, this work implemented the CAMP sparse reconstruction algorithm in the CS radar system. It was found that detection rates vastly improve with the implementation of CAMP, especially in the case of fluctuating target impulse responses amidst clutter or at low receive signal to noise ratios (β n). Furthermore, where previous work considered a τ th=0, the implementation of a variable τ th in this work offered novel trade off between P D and P FA in radar design to the CS radar system. In the simulated radar scene it was found that τ th could be moderately increased retaining the same or similar P D while drastically improving P FA. This suggests that the selection and specification of the sparse reconstruction algorithm and corresponding τ th for this radar system is not trivial. Rather, a tradeoff was noted between P D and P FA based on the choice and parameters of the sparse reconstruction technique and detection threshold, highlighting an engineering trade-space in CS radar system design. Thus, in CS radar system design, the radar designer must carefully choose and specify the sparse reconstruction technique and appropriate detection threshold in addition to transmit-waveforms, receiver filters and building the dictionary of target impulse responses for detection in the radar scene