Netted radar employs several spatially distributed transmitters and receivers for information
retrieval. This system topology offers many advantages over traditional monostatic and bistatic
systems which use a single transmitter and a single receiver. For example, it provides better
utilization of reflected energy, more flexible system arrangement and enhanced information
retrieval capability. Therefore, the netted radar system is of emerging interests among radar
researchers.
This work investigates several fundamental aspects that determine netted radar performance.
This includes netted radar sensitivity, the netted radar ambiguity function and the
netted radar ground plane effect. Mathematical models are developed to provide a mean to
examine different aspects of netted radar performance. Software simulations examine netted
radar performance over a range of parameter variations. Simulation results show that netted
radar can offer better performance over traditional monnostatic and bistatic radar in many
cases.
Some elementary field trials have been conducted using a prototype netted radar system
developed within the UCL radar group to examine aspects of netted radar performance in practice.
The field trials are focused on netted radar range and sensitivity which are fundamental.
The field trial results show that the theoretical benefits that netted radar can offer are generally
realizable in practice