Development of a passive dual channel receiver at L-band for the detection of drones

Staring radars use a transmitting static wide-beam antenna and a directive digital array to form multiple simultaneous beams on receive. Because beams are fixed, the radar can employ long integration times to detect slow low-RCS targets, such as drones, which present a challenge to traditional air surveillance radar. The use of multiple spatially separated receivers cooperating with the staring transmitters in a multistatic network allows multi-perspective target acquisitions that can help mitigate interference and ultimately enhance the detection of drones and reduce estimation errors. Here, the development and experimental results of a passive, dual-channel, L-band receiver are presented. The receiver has been used to take measurements of both moving vehicles of drones in flight using a bistatic staring transmitter. An analysis of the receiver is presented using GPS is used to quantify the estimation performance of the receiver.