Passive radar using a software-defined radio platform and opensource software tools

Abstract

This paper presents a prototype passive radar system that utilises FM radio transmitters for target detection. The system is based on the Universal Software Radio Peripheral (USRP) hardware platform and the opensource GNURadio software-defined radio (SDR) toolkit. The hardware components that were required to implement the passive radar receiver are introduced. The signal processing software that was written to make target detection possible is briefly discussed. The experimental site and the geometry of the receiver, transmitters in the area, and incoming air traffic are described. The experimental data and the results after performing the required signal processing is presented. It is shown that the passive radar system has the ability to detect commercial passenger aircraft at short ranges.