1961 Skolnik: An Analysis of Bistatic Radar 19

[40] H. Salzer, "Spectrum for Unsymmetrically Triangular Modula- mation Obtained from Radar Altimeter, " WVright Air Div.
tion with Approximate Formulas," Diamond Ordnance Fuze Center, WXrigbt-Patterson AFB, N. J., AN/APN-22 (XN-4),
Labs., Washington, D. C., Tech. Rept. No. 325; January, 1956. Project No. 4513-43721; April, 1956.
[41] P. C. Sandretto, "Electronic Aviation Engineering," IT&T [48] J. WVilliams, "The Feasibility of Transmitted Reference Correla-
Corp., Nutlev, N. J..; 1958. tion Radar as a Sea State Measuring Device," Martin Aircraft
[42] WV. K. Saunders, "Microphonism in Microwave Crystal Mixers," Co., Baltimore, Md., ER-10697-P; March, 1959. Presented at
Diamond Ordnance Fuze Labs., WXashington, D. C., Tech. the 6th Annual East Coast Conf. on Aeronautical and Naviga-
Rept. No. 363; July, 1956. Presented at the Microwave Crystal tional Engrg.; 1959. (Only an abstract appears in the conference
Rectifier Symp. of the Signal Corps Engrg. Labs., Ft. NMon- Proceedings.)
nmouth, N. J., February, 1956. (Not printed in the Symposium [49] F. T. Wimberly and J. F. Lane, "The AN/APN-22 radio al-
Record.) tinmeter," IRE TRANS. oN AERONAUTICAL AND NAVIGATIONAL
[43] B. A. Sharpe, "Low-reading absolute altimeters," J. IEE, pt. ENGINEERING, vol. 1, pp. 8-14; June, 1954.
3A, vol. 94, pp. 1001-1011; 1947. [50] K. J. XVitmer, "Studien uiber Radarsystem mit Frequenzmodu-
[44] "Proposed Characteristics for an Auto-Landing Radio Altime- lation," Swiss Federal Inst. Tech., Zurich, Switzerland, disser-
ter," Standard Telephone and Cables, Ltd., London, England. tation; 1950.
[45] Standard Telephone and Cables Ltd., "The Altim-neter as a [51] P. M. Woodward, "Probability and Information Theory, with
Landing Aid," l 1th IATA Tech. Conf., Monte Carlo; September, Applications to Radar," McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New
1958. York, N. Y., Ch. 1; 1953.
[46] R. H. Varian, XV. V. Hlansen, and J. R. XNVoodyard, U. S. patent [52] H. J. Zetzmann, "Elektrische Hohenmessung," Arch. tech.
2,435,615, applied for September 30, 1941; granted (i.e., released AIessen, vol. 289, pp. 21-24; February, 1960. Bibliography
from security) on February 10, 1948. items [31], [32], [38], and [40]-[42] refer to German work, mostly
L47] "WADC Flight Test Report, "Investigation of Height Infor- patents and government technical reports.

An Analysis of Bistatic Radar*

MERRILL I. SKOLNIKt

Summary-This paper briefly describes some of the character-

istics, capabilities, and limitations of the bistatic radar when used for
the detection and location of targets such as aircraft or satellites. (A TARGETr(m J
bistatic radar is one in which the receiver is physically separated from
the transmitter so that the echo signal does not travel over the same
path as the transmitted signal.) Among the topics discussed are the
type of information available from the received signal, methods for
extracting information from the bistatic radar signal, bistatic radar P sGN
equation, target cross sections, and the properties of the bistatic TANMrTE
radar fence. Throughout the paper the bistatic radar is continually
compared to the conventional monostatic radar. It is concluded that
ANESMITTER
/tt
tSM' e
G

although the bistatic radar has several interesting attributes, it is C

not as generally applicable as the more versatile monostatic radar / ,
because of the limited fence-type coverage and the difficulty of ex- 7- / / / / //7////
tracting target location information. An appendix is included which
describes the multiple-frequency CW method for measuring distance (a)
as applied to either the bistatic or the monostatic radar.
-TARGET (h )
INTRODUCTION
T? HE transmitter and the receiver of a conven-
tional radar system [Fig. 1 (a) ] are located in close
proximity to one another. A common antenna is
often used for transmittinig and receiving. Such a radar
is called monostatic, while a radar system in which the
transmitter and receiver are separated by a consider-
able distance is called bistaticl [Fig. 1 (b) ]. If many sep-
arated receivers are employed with one transmitter, the
radar system is called multistatic.
(b)
Fig. 1 (a) Monostatic radar. (b) Bistatic radar.
*
Received by PGANE, August 5, 1960.
t Res. Div., Electronic Communications, Inc., Timonium, Md.
1 The bistatic nomenclature was first coined by K. Siegel and
R. E. Machol of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

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20 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND NAVIGATIONAL ELECTRONICS March

Although adequate description of the monostatic closer to that of a poinlt-to-poinit communications sys-
radar is available in the literature,2 little information tem than to the usual scanning moniostatic radar. In
has been published concerning the properties of the bi- fact, bistatic radar detection of aircraft with point-to-
static radar. It is the purpose of this paper to describe point communications systems has often been reported
some of the characteristics, capabilities, and limitations in the literature.7'8 Perhaps the most conmmoni mani-
of the bistatic radar and compare it to the more usual festation of the principle of the bistatic radar is the
moniostatic radar. rhythmic flickering observed in a television picture
Any radar which employs separate antennas for when an aircraft passes overhead, especially if the set is
transmitting and receiving might be called bistatic, but tuned to a weak station.
in this paper a bistatic radar is assumed to be one in The inherent geometry of the bistatic radar is more
which the separation between transmitter and receiver suited to a fixed (nionscanning) fence-like coverage such
is comparable to the target distance. Hence, for aircraft as was shown in Fig. 1 (b). The fence coverage can be ob-
targets, the separations might be of the order of a few tained most simply with fixed antennas generating fan
miles to as much as several hundred miles. For satellite beams. The fan-beam fence could be oriented at anly
targets the separation might be hundreds or even elevation angle, but in this paper only the vertical, or
thousands of miles. A distinction is made between near-vertical fence will be considered for sake of coIn-
radars with closely spaced antennas and radars with venience. In geineral, only those targets which penetrate
widely spaced antennas because the former resemble the the fence coverage can be detected, except for the
conventional monostatic radar more than the type of small percentage of targets just outside the limits of the
bistatic radar to be discussed here. fence which are detected via the antenna sidelobes. The
transmitting and receiving beams might be made to
scan, provided they are synchronized in space. Whether
DESCRIPTION OF BISTATIc RADAR the bistatic fence should be scanned or whether the
The bistatic radar is not a new concept. Its principle same volume should be covered with fixed beams de-
was known and demonstrated many years before the pends upon the nature of the application. For conven-
monostatic radar was demonstrated to be practical. ience, only fixed beams are considered in this paper, but
The first "radar" observations, both in the United the discussion is applicable to either case.
States anid in Great Britain, were made with CW The fence-like coverage of the bistatic radar is seeni
equipment operating with separated transmitters and to be quite different in nature from the hemispherical
receivers.3' 4 These early radars were known as wave in- coverage of the monostatic radar. Fence-like coverage
terference radars but were the same as what would now could also be obtained with the monostatic radar by
be called bistatic radar. Taylor and Young of the Naval simply operating the radar with a fixed antenna rather
Research Laboratory first demonstrated the bistatic than a scanning antenna.
radar for the detection of ships in 1922.4 Their work was The radiated signal from the bistatic transmitter, as
disclosed in a patent issued in 1934.5 The early experi- shown in Fig. l(b), arrives at the receiver via two sep-
ments with wave interference or bistatic radar led to arate paths, the direct path from transmitter to receiver,
the development of the monostatic radar in the late and the scattered path which includes the target. The
1930's, both in this country and abroad. Further de- measurements which can be made at the bistatic re-
velopment was put aside after the demonstration of the ceiver are:
more versatile monostatic radar principle. Bistatic 1) the total path length, Dt+Dr, or transit time of
radar lay dormant for about 15 years, until it was re- the scattered signal,
invented in the early 1950's and received new interest.6 2) the angle of arrival of the scattered signal,
Separating the transmitter and the receiver in the 3) the frequency of the direct and the scattered sig-
bistatic radar results in considerably different radar nals [these will be different if the target is in mo-
characteristics than are obtained with the monostatic tion (Doppler effect)] .
radar. The physical configuration of a bistatic radar is
The means for making these measurements, as well as
their usefulness in determining target characteristics,
2 L. N. Ridenour, "Radar System Engineering," M.I.T., Rad. will be considered later.
Lab. Ser., McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, N. Y., vol. 1; A knowledge of the transmitted signal is necessary
1947.
3 A. F. Wilkens, "The story of radar," Research, vol. 6, pp. 434- at the receiver site if the maximum information is to be
440; November 1953.
4 H. E. Guerlac, "OSRD Long History, Volume Division 14-
V,
extracted from the scattered signal. The transmitted
RADAR," Office of Tech. Services, U. S. Dept. of Commerce,
Washington, D. C.
5 A. H. Taylor, L. C. Young, and L. A. Hyland, "System for de- 7C. R. Englund, A. B. Crawford, and W. XW. Mumford, "Some
tecting objects by radio," U. S. Patent No. 1,981,884; November 27, results of a study of ultra-short-wave transmission phenomena,"
1934. PROC. IRE, vol. 21, pp. 475-492; March, 1933.
6 K. M. Siegel, "Bistatic radars and forward scattering," 1958 8 I. H. Gerks, "Propagation at 412 Mc from a high-power trans-
Natl. Conf. Proc. Aeronaut. Electronics, Dayton, Ohio, pp. 286-290. mitter," PROC. IRE, vol. 39, pp. 1374-1382; November, 1951.

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1961 Skolnik: An Analysis of Bistatic Radar 21

frequencN is necessary if the Doppler frequency shift is intersection of the ray, defined by the angle of arrival
to be determined. A time or phase reference also is and the surface of the prolate spheroid, determines the
needed if the total scattered-path length is to be meas- position of the target in space.
ured. The frequency reference can be obtained from the Applying the law of cosines to the geometry of Fig.
direct signal. The time reference also can be obtained 1 (b), we get
from the direct signial, provided the distance Db be-
tween transmitter and receiver is known. In many Dt2= Dr2 + Db2 - 2DrDb COs 4,, (1)
cases, however, when the separation between the
transmitter arid the receiver is sufficiently large, the where 'Pe is the angle of arrival measured in the plane of
direct signal will be highly attenuated by propagation the fence, here assumed to be vertical. The bistatic
losses and will be too weak to be detected at the re- radar measures iI1'e and S=Dt+Dr. The separation Db
ceiver. (On the other hand, the signial scattered by the between transmitter and receiver is assumed to be
target will not be as highly attenuated if the target lies known. Eq. (1) may be rewritten as
above or slightly below the radar line of sight9 and will
be received normally, while the direct signal must over- S2 + Db2- 2SDb cos VeI
come the diffraction losses or the scatter losses due to
Dt
2(S
=

Db COS 41,)
~~~~~~~~~~(
its over-the-horizon path.) When the direct signal is not
available at the receiver, its function may be performed or
by a stable clock or reference oscillator which is syn- S2- Db2
chronized to the transmitter. It will be assumed, there- Dr - 2(S (3)
fore, that a knowledge of the transmitted signal is al-
- Db COS (3)
ways available at the receiver, whether from the direct The above locates the target in the plane of the angle
signal or fronm a suitable reference clock.
The bistatic radar can be operated with either a C.e. The location of the target in the third dimension is
found from the measurement of the orthogonal angle
pulse modulation or CW, just as can a monostatic radar. coordinate 41,a [not shown in Fig. 1 (b) ].
The simplicity of CXV or modulated CW has an ad- \Vhen the sum S-Dt+D,--Db, the prolate spheroid
vantage in the bistatic radar not usually enjoyed by the degenerates into a straight line joining the two foci. In
monostatic radar. A CW; radar requires considerable such a case, the location of the target position is inde-
isolation between the transmitter and the receiver to terminate, other than that it lies somewhere along the
keep the transmitted signal from leaking into the re- line joining the transmitter and receiver.
ceiver. Isolation is readily obtained in the bistatic radar Location of the target with bistatic radar is not un-
because of the inherent separation between the trans- like the location of the target with monostatic radar.
mitter and the receiver. The latter measures the total path length from radar to
target to receiver, just as does the bistatic radar. Since
INFORMATION AVAILABLE FROM the two parts of the path are equal, the distance to the
BISTATIC RADAR SIGNALS target is one half the total path length. The distance
Radar, whether bistatic or monostatic, is capable of or range measurement in the monostatic radar locates
determining the following: 1) the presence of a target of the target on the surface of the sphere. The sphere is the
sufficient size within the coverage of the radar, 2) the limiting case of the prolate spheroid when the separa-
location of the target position in space, and 3) a com- tion between the two foci becomes zero. Hence, the tar-
ponent of velocity (Doppler) relative to the radar. get position is located with monostatic radar as the
The method of locating the target position is similar intersection of a ray defined by the angle of arrival of
in the two radars. Both require the measurement of a the echo signal at the radar and the surface of a sphere.
distance and the angle of arrival in two orthogonal The Doppler beat frequency fd between the scattered
angular coordinates. The distance measured by the signal and the direct signal in the bistatic radar is pro-
bistatic radar is the sum S=Dr+Dt, the total scattered portional to the time rate of change of the total path
path. The sum Dt+Dr locates the target somewhere length of the scattered signal
on the surface of a prolate spheroidi" whose two foci are
at the location of the transmitter and receiver. To 1 d

further localize the position of the target, additional in- _fd= - (Dt + Dr) , (4)
formation, such as the two-dimensional angle of arrival
of the scattered signal at the receiver, is required. The wvhere X is the wavelength of the transmitted signal. The
Doppler frequency shift provides a means for discrim-
M. I. Skolnik, "Radar horizon and propagation loss," PROC. inating stationary objects from moving targets but it is
IRE,10 vol. 45, pp. 697-698; May, 1957. not a measure of the radial velocity as it is in the case
A prolate spheroid is generated by rotating an ellipse about its
major axis. of the monostatic radar.

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22 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND NAVIGATIONAL ELECTRONICS March

In priniciple, it is possible to determine the trajectory radar, it is necessary to separate by some means the de-
of the target from Doppler measurements only. \NVith sired scattered signal from the direct signal and any
the coordinate system shown in Fig. 2, the Doppler fre- multipath signals which might exist.
quency of (4) may be written One method for measuring the anigle of arrival which
seems well suited to the fence-like coverage of the bi-
vr f + b cos4 r static radar is shown in Fig. 3. The transmitting antenna
fd- generates a fan beam which is narrow in azimuth but
X N[b + r' + h' + 2br 4]1/2 cos

wide in elevation. The receiving antenna pattern coIn-

+
r (Db -b) + - cos
(5) sists of a number of independent, overlapping pencil
[(Db b)'2 + r2 + h2 2(Db b)r COS ]1/2
- - beams arranged to cover a fan-shaped volume similar
to that covered by the transmitting beam. The receiv-
where the symbols are defined in Fig. 2. Eq. (5) may be ing antenna beams might be generated using a reflector
used as a basis to obtain the target velocity vz, altitude antenna or a lens with multiple feeds, or with a linear
h, and the crossing angle 0 (providing they remain con- array feed with beams simultaneously formed by proper
stant over the time of measurement), as well as the loca- interconnection of the elements. A two-dimensional ar-
tion of the target along the vector r. A minimum of five ray could also be used to generate the multiple beams."
Doppler frequency measurements and their times of oc- The elevation angle may be measured by interpolation
currence are required. Because of symmetry, it is not between the voltages received in adjacent beams. The
possible to distinguish a given trajectory from its mir- azimuth angle is determined as in any other fan beam
ror image about the vertical plane which bisects the radar. A by-product of this angle measurement tech-
baseline Db using Doppler measurements only. That is, nique is that the multiple-beam receiving antenna is of
the angle 0 cannot be distinguished from -q nor can the higher gain than an antenna which generates a simple
baseline-crossing b be distinguished from Db-b. fan beam. The higher gain results in a larger signal-to-
noise ratio and, hence, the detection capability and/or
the measurement accuracy is improved.

7TANSM17-7R RECEIVEX

TRANSMITTER

Fig. 3 Bistatic radar with multiple receiving beams.

z

Fig. 2-Geometry and nomenclature for (5). B. Scattered Path Length

It was shown that the measurement of the total scat-
Another method for determining the target trajectory tered path length S= Dt+Dr is important in locating the
on the basis of Doppler alone is to obtain a continuous target position. As with the other bistatic radar meas-
record of the variation of Doppler frequency as a func- urements, the total scattered path length may be deter-
tion of time and to match the curve obtained with mined by means similar to the measurement of range
curves previously calculated for various trajectories. with the monostatic radar. Both pulse modulations and
In any case, the extraction of the target trajectory CW modulations could be used.
from (5) by using Doppler and time measurements only If pulse transmissions are used, the time difference
is not a simple task. Some form of automatic machine ,At between the arrival of the direct and the scattered
computation seems to be necessary. signals determines the total path length S =Db+cAt,
where c is the velocity of light and Db iS the distance be-
BISTATIc RADAR MEASUREMENTS tween transmitter and receiver. Both c and Db are pre-
sumed to be known.
A. Angle of Arrival The time delay between the direct and the scattered
The direction of the target with respect to the receiv- signals may also be determined using a frequency-modu-
ing site is determined by measuring the angle of arrival lated CXNV transmission.2 At any instant of time, the fre-
of the scattered wavefront. Techniques similar to those
employed by monostatic radars for measuring angular 11 S. Rush, "Description of a Nov\el Type of Low Frequency Radar
position may also be employed at the receiving site of Antenna and an Analysis of its Signal-to-Noise Performance,"
the bistatic radar. In measuring the angle of arrival of presented at Electronic Scanning Symp., AF Cambridge Res.
Ctr., Cambridge, Mass., Tech. Rept. No. AFCRC-TR-58-145 (1),
the wavefront scattered from the target with a bistatic ASTIA Doc. No. AD 152409; April 29-30, May 1, 1958.

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1961 Skolnik: An Analysis of Bistatic Radar 23

quency of the signals at the receiver will depend upon Eqs. (6) and (7) are but one of several forms of the
the total transit time from transmitter to receiver. radar equation. They are not meant to be complete de-
Therefore, the difference in frequency between the scriptions of the performance of radar systems since
direct and the scattered signals is a measure of the dif- they do not explicitly include many important factors,
ference in transit time At between the direct and the but they are suitable if only relative comparisons are to
scattered path lengths. be made.
Another method for determining the total scattered
path length is to measure the difference in phase be- TARGET CROSS SECTION
tween two or more closely spaced CW frequencies at a The radar cross section (b of a target illuminated by a
fixed time.2 If the signals start in phase from the trans- bistatic radar is a measure of the energy scattered in
mitter, the relative phase difference between the two the direction of the receiver. Bistatic radar cross sec-
frequencies at the receiver is a measure of the transit tions for various shaped objects have been reported in
time or distance. Further discussion of the two-fre- the literature.6'121-7 In comparing the bistatic radar cross
quency method of measuring range is included in the section with the monostatic radar cross section, two dif-
Appendix. ferent cases will be considered, depending upon whether
of not the scattering angle d [defined in Fig. 1(b)] is
C. Doppler equal to 1800. Consider first the case where /3#180'.
The Doppler-frequency beat note in a bistatic radar The following theorem is proved in a report by Crispin,
may be determined by conventional frequency meas- et al.,15 for 17S.1800: "In the limit of vanishing wave-
urement techniques (such as tunable filters, filter banks, length the bistatic cross section for the transmitter
zero crossing counters, discriminators, spectrum an- direction k and receiver direction no is equal to the
alyzers, etc.) and need not be discussed further. monostatic cross section for the transmitter-receiver
direction k+no with k#%io for bodies which are suffi-
BISTATIc RADAR EQUATION ciently smooth." In the above, k is the uniit vector
The simple form of the radar equation for monostatic directed from the transmitter to the target and n'o is the
radar is given by the familiar expression unit vector directed from the receiver to the target.
The target is assumed to be located at the origin of the
PtG2X2om coordinate system. This theorem permits one to de-
Pr = (monostatic) termine bistatic cross sections from monostatic cross )'34L2
(47r) 3R LV L,
sections, provided the conditions under which the
where theorem is valid are met.
Pr = received signal power, watts, It may be concluded from the above theorem that the
Pt =transmitted power, watts, range of values of the bistatic cross section for a particu-
G=antenna gain, lar target will be comparable to the range of values of
X =wavelength, meters, the monostatic cross section, except for /3 1800. It does
o-m = monostatic cross section (back scatter), square not mean that a monostatic radar and a bistatic radar
meters, viewing the same target will necessarily see the same
R=range to target, meters, cross sections. In some cases the monostatic cross sec-
Lp=one-way propagation losses, tion will be greater and in other cases the bistatic cross
L,=system losses. section will be greater. But on the average, the two
cross sections will vary over comparable values. The
The corresponding equation for the bistatic radar is similarity in behavior of the monostatic and bistatic
PtGtGrX2Jb
Pr = (bistatic) (7) 12 K. M. Siegel, H. A. Alperin, R. R. Bronski, J. W. Crispin, A. L.
(4r) 3D, 2Dr2Lp(t) Lp(r) Ls Moffett, C. E. Schensted, and I. V. Schensted, "Bistatic radar cross
sections of surfaces of revolution," J. Appi. Phys., vol. 26, pp. 297-
where 305; March, 1955.
13 W. E. Kock, J. L. Stone, J. E. Clark, and WV. D. Friedle, "For-
G=transmitting antenna gain in the direction of ward scatter of electromagnatic waves by spheres," 1958 WESCON
the target, CONVENTION RECORD, pt. 1, pp. 86-100.
14 WV. E. Kock, "Related experiments with sound waves 'and
Gr= receiving antenna gain in the direction of the electromagnetic waves," PROC. IRE, vol. 47, pp. 1200-1201; July,
target, 1959.
15 J. W. Crispin, Jr., R. F. Goodrich, and K. M. Siegel, "A
Ob = bistatic cross section, square meters, Theoretical Method for the Calculation of the Radar Cross Sections
Dt= transmitter-to-target distance, meters, of Aircraft and Missiles," University of Michigan Rad. Lab., Ann
Arbor, Rept. No. 2591-1-H on Contract AF 19(604)-1949; July, 1959.
Dr = receiver-to-target distance, meters, 16 H. XVeil, M. L. Barasch, and T. A. Kaplan, "Scattering of
L,(t) =propagation loss over the transmitter-to-tar- Electromagnetic Waves by Spheres," University of Michigan Rad.
Lab. Studies in Radar Cross Sections, X, Ann Arbor, Rept. No.
get path, 2255-20-T on Contract AF 30(602)-1076; Ju'ly, 1956.
--I --

L,(r) =propagation loss over the receiver-to-target 1i F. V. Schultz, R. C. Burgener, and S. King, "Measurement of
the radar cross-section of a man," PROC. IRE, vol. 46, pp. 476-481;
path. February, 1958.

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24 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND NAVIGATIONAL ELECTRONICS March

cross sections is illustrated by several examples cited by Another consequence of a bistatic radar designed to
Crispin, et al.15 take advantage of the large forward-scatter cross section
The case where 3 180', or forward scatter, is not is the loss of the Doppler aiid the target positioin infor-
covered by the above theorem. Whereas the two cross mation. XV\hen /B=180°, the Doppler frequency is zero
sections were comparable when /3-180', the forward- and moving targets cannot be discriminated oni the
scatter cross section ( = 180°) can be many times the basis of frequency alon-e and the radar has no i\iITI capa-
monostatic or back-scatter cross section. It has been bility. Also, the determination of target position from
shown by Siegel6 that the forward-scatter cross section the measurement of the total scattered path length S is
of a target of projected area A is o-f = 4rA 2/X2 where X, indeterminate, as discussed previously.
the wavelength of the radiation, is assumed small com- Therefore, it is concluded that the conditions for ob-
pared to the target dimensions. This result was derived taining the large forward-scatter signal are too restric-
on the basis of physical optics. A sphere of radius a has tive to be of application in most radar situations and
a monostatic cross section,Iom= 7ra2. Hence, the ratio of that, in general, the bistatic radar does not possess an
forward-scatter to back-scatter cross section in the case exploitable advantage over the monostatic radar be-
of the sphere is ofl-m= (2wra/X)2. For a/X= 10, the the- cause of any cross-section enhancemen-t. When condi-
oretical forward-scatter cross section is 36 db greater tions happen to permit the utilization of the enhaniced
than the back-scatter cross section. forward-scatter cross section, it is obtained at the ex-
The back-scatter signal will be equal to the forward- pense of position location and moving target discrim-
scatter signal in the case of a flat plate, since the back- ination.
scatter cross section of a flat plate of area A is also equal It is of interest to note that a similar phenomenon oc-
to 4wxA2/X2. However, for convex shaped targets of curs with monostatic radar. It is well known that the
major interest, the back-scatter cross section remains cross sections of most radar targets, when viewed broad-
essentially constant with increasing frequency, whereas side, can be orders of magnitude greater than the nose-
the forward-scatter cross section increases with increas- on cross section, or even the median value of cross sec-
ing frequency.6 Therefore, in the frequency region of tion. For example, the monostatic cross section of the
usual interest to radar, where the target dimensions are prolate spheroid computed on the basis of geometric
large compared to the wavelength, the forward-scatter optics is 7ra4lb4 when viewed broadside and 7rb2 when
cross section will always dominate the back-scatter viewed head-on, where a and b are the semi-major anid
cross section. Another interesting property of forward semi-minor axes, respectively. If the aspect ratio is 10: 1,
scatter which follows from the application of Babinet's i.e., a= lOb, the ratio of the broadside to the head-on
principle is that the forward scatter from an absorbing cross section is 104. Although this is a significant dif-
body should be comparable to the forward scatter from ference in cross sections, the radar designer canniot al-
a reflecting body of similar shape, whereas the back ways take advantage of the large broadside cross sec-
scatter from an absorbing body will be much less than tion if it is important that the radar discriminate be-
the back scatter from a reflecting body.14 tween movinig targets and fixed objects oIn the basis of
If a bistatic radar can be designed to take advantage Doppler. The broadside aspect is usually presented to
of the large forward-scatter cross section, a significant the monostatic radar only for those trajectories which
improvement in the detection capability can be had; or are perpenidicular to the radar beam. The relative
for the same detection capability as a radar with velocity and hence the Doppler frequensy shift are zero
3 # 180°, less power need be radiated. However, the when the target trajectory is perpendicular to the radar
radar applications in which advantage can be taken of beam so that the radar has little or no MTI capability
the large forward-scatter signal are limited. The scatter- when the target cross section is expected to be a maxi-
ing angle ,3 must be 1800 or reasonably close to it in mum, just as in the case of the forward-scatter cross
order to obtain forward scatter so that the target must section and bistatic radar.
lie along the line joining the transmitter and receiver.i
Thus, the transmitting and receiving antennas must COMPARISON OF BISTATIC AND AIIONOSTATIc RADARS
be within line-of-sight of each other. This precludes the
use of the forward-scatter enhanicement for bistatic It is difficult to make a precise comparison of bistatic
radars when the two terminals are beyond the line-of- and monostatic radars because of the dissimilarity inl
sight or for the detection of high-altitude targets. Fur- their geometries. The coverage of a monostatic radar is
thermore, if full advantage is to be taken of the forward- basically hemispherical, while the bistatic radar cover-
scatter enhanced signal, the direct signal must be sub- age is essentially that of a fenice. The monostatic radar
tracted vectorally from the total received signal con- has been used primarily with pulse modulation but
sisting of the sum of the direct and scattered signals.6 there are many applications in which CWV modulations
are used. It would seem that CXV transmissionis are to
be preferred in the bistatic radar but pulse modulation
18 Sie,el op. cit., The forward-scatter beamwidth from a sphere
of radius a is approximately 2X/7ra when a/X>>l. could also be used if desirei.

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1961 Skolnik: An Analysis of Bistatic Radar 25

The monostatic radar is the more versatile of the two, Whenever a radar, be it bistatic or monostatic, is re-
primarily because of its ability to scan a hemispherical quired to penetrate beyond the radar "horizon," a
volume in space and because of the relative ease with heavy penalty must be paid because the propagation
which usable target information can be extracted from losses experienced are many times those which would
the received signal. Another advantage of a monostatic be encountered in free space.9 In general, the diffraction
radar is that only one site is required, whereas two sites loss increases with increasing frequency and is an ex-
are required with the bistatic radar. A large part of the ponential function of distance, or L sead, where a - at-
cost of radar installations is the cost of developing a tenuation constant, d distance. The theoretical diffrac-
site (building, roads, sleeping quarters, mess facilities, tion loss at UHF is of the order of one decibel per mile
etc.) and, in general, a bistatic radar should cost more for distances at or slightly beyond the radio horizon.
than a monostatic radar because of this factor. When propagation losses are taken into account, the
Although the bistatic radar cannot readily imitate the same conclusions drawn above for the relative capabil-
hemispherical coverage of the monostatic radar, it is ity of bistatic and monostatic radars in free space also
possible for the monostatic radar to operate to give apply; i.e., 1) the bistatic and monostatic radars as de-
fence coverage by using fixed rather than rotating an- scribed have equal detection capability for cross-section
tennas. In order to compare the two on the basis of targets equidistant from adjacent sites, and 2) the de-
similar fence coverage, it will be assumed that a non- tection capability of both systems improves as targets
scanning monostatic radar is operated at each end of approach either site within the limits of the antenna
the fence. The monostatic radar requires two trans- coverage. The variation of target echo with position in
mitters, two receivers and two antennas to generate the the monostatic radar is even more pronounced when
fence. The bistatic radar also needs two antennas, but propagation losses are included, since the received sig-
only one transmitter and one receiver. If similar equip- nal varies inversely as R4eiaR instead of R4 alone. On the
ments are used in the two types of radars, i.e., same an- other hand, the bistatic target signal, when propa-
tenna gain, same transmitter power, etc., and if for sake gation losses are considered, varies inversely as
of analysis it is assumed 0b 0-m, (6) and (7) show that Dt2Drea(Dt+D,). The exponential factor ea(Dt+Dr) does not
the echo signals from the monostatic and the bistatic vary rapidly; as either Dt or Dr grows larger, the other
radars will be equal when the target is at the midpoint grows smaller.
of the fence (R= D - Dr). For targets at locations
other than midway, the detection capability of both CONCLUSIONS
radars improves within the limits of the antenna cov- This paper has attempted to discuss in a qualitative
erage. The monostatic radar signal increases quite rap- manner some of the general characteristics of bistatic
idly as the target approaches the radar because of the radar. The bistatic radar, because of its particular ge-
inverse relationship between the echo signal, Pr, and ometry, is best suited to a fence-like coverage. The bi-
R4 [see (6)]. The bistatic radar signal also increases as static-radar fence can readily detect the presence of a
either end of the fence is approached since the echo target penetrating the coverage of the fence, and when
signal is inversely proportional to Dt2Dr2 [see (7) ]. How- compared to a monostatic radar for the same applica-
ever, the total variation, or dynamic range of the re- tion, the bistatic radar requires half the number of
ceived signal with target position is not as striking with transmitters and receivers and, hence, half the total
the bistatic radar as it is with the monostatic radar. In power in order to achieve the same minimum detection
the bistatic radar, as either factor Dt or Dr increases, the capability. In addition, the inherent separation between
other decreases. In other words, the bistatic radar does the transmitter and the receiver in the bistatic radar
not "overdetect" at short ranges as does the monostatic eliminates the need for the duplexer necessary with the
radar. monostatic radar. When the system applications per-
The above discussion applies to the case where the mit, the design of a bistatic radar fence can take ad-
radars and targets are located in free space. Free-space vantage of the enhanced target cross section obtained
conditions would be approximated by a target at high for scattering in the forward direction (f=180'). The
altitude over a poorly reflecting earth. In most cases of price one must pay for the enhanced forward scatter
interest, however, free space conditions do not apply cross section is the loss of moving target discrimination
and propagation effects must be properly taken into and the ability to locate the position of the target.
account. When the targets are within the "line-of- Although the bistatic radar has many interesting
sight" of the radars, system coverage might be altered attributes, it cannot compete with the monostatic radar
by the lobing caused by the destructive and construc- in most radar system applications. The history of radar
tive interference of ground reflected waves. The propa- substantiates this conclusion. The monostatic radar is
gation loss factors included in (6) and (7) may repre- the more versatile of the two because of its ability to
sent the losses due to the atmospheric attenuation or scan a large volume in space and because of the relative
to the diffraction or tropospheric scattering losses in- ease with which usable information concerning the tar-
curred in attempting to see beyond the radar "horizon." get's position and relative velocity can be extracted

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26 IRE TRANSACTIONS ON AEROSPACE AND NAVIGATIONAL ELECTRONICS March

from the received signal. The superiority of the mono- of light, and T1 is the time taken by the wave in travel-
static radar even seems to extend to the application of ing from transmitter to target. The scattered signal ar-
the radar fence. Although less equipment is needed rives at the receiver after a time delay T2 and with a
with the bistatic radar fence, this advantage is offset to Doppler shift fo, = zVr(_fi+fai) c applied to the first sine
a large extent by the difficulties involved in locating the term andfO2 = Vr(f2 +fa) /c to the second sine term, where
target position. Vr is the target velocity relative to the receiver. The
The bistatic radar deserves credit for its historical scattered signal at the receiver is
role in the early days of radar by leading to the de- VR - sin [2r(fi +fai +±fj)t - 27(fi + fai + f3i) T2
velopment of monostatic radar. It should be given con-
sideration, along with other possible radar techniques, - 27r(fi+ fJa) Til
in those applications where some inherent characteristic + sin [27r(f2 + fa2 + f,32)t -2(f2 + fa 2 + f32)T2
such as its fence-like coverage may be a desirable at- 27r(f2 +f2)Ti]. ( 10)
-
tribute or when the application does not require com-
plete target information. But as a means for the general The receiver must separate the two components of the
detection and location of targets it is shadowed by its scattered signal by filtering. The Doppler frequency
offspring, the monostatic radar. must be extracted from each signal. It is assumed that a
knowledge of the transmitted signal [(8a) and (8b) ] is
APPENDIX available at the receiver. Since the carrier frequencies
In this Appendix, the technique described by V. W. fi and f2 differ by onily a slight amount and since the
Hansen in Section 5.7 of Ridenour2 for determining target velocity is small compared to the velocity of
radar range by measuring the phase difference between light, the Doppler frequency shifts of each frequency
two closely spaced CRY frequencies will be elaborated are approximately equal to one another. We may write
upon and applied to the case of the bistatic radar. fai Zfa2 =fa and f'l -fO2 =f. This assumption is valid so
The radar measurement of time delay or distance is long as 27rfaiTi differs from 2wfa2Tl by only a small frac-
essentially the measurement of the variation of phase tion of a radian, and the same is true forfol andfO2.
with frequency, when time and direction remain con- Hence, the receiver extracts two outputs, both of
stant.19 The two CWV frequency-range measurement Doppler frequency fa+fO=fd, but of different phase.
technique is a direct application of this principle. Al- Vol = sin [2wfdt - 2w(fi + fd) T2 - 2(fi1 + f) Ti]. (1 la)
though the technique is described here in terms of the
bistatic radar, it was originally applied to the monostatic V02 sin [27fdt - 2r(f2 + fd) T2 - 2ir(f +fat))Tl]. (Ilt)
radar.2 Results derived for the bistatic radar apply with Constant phase shifts which occur in the receiving
only slight modification to the monostatic radar as well. process and which are common to both channels are
The waveform transmitted by the bistatic radar is ignored. The phase difference between- thes2 two signals
assumed to consist of two continuous sine waves of fre- is
quency fi and f2. For sake of convenience, the ampli-
tudes of each wave will be set equal to unity, so that the A z= 27wJ2 -f l)(T1 + T2) - (12)
voltage waveforms of the two components of the trans- The total scattered path length S=Dt+Dr is then
mitted waveform may be written as
2
c A4f
V1 = sin 27rfit, (8a) = (bistatic) (13 )
V2 = sin 27rf2t, (8b)
where Laf is the difference in frequency (f2-fi). In the
and the transmitted waveform is VT= V 1+ V2. At the case of monostatic radar, the range R = S12 and
target, each signal is shifted in frequency by the Dop- c AO
pler effect and delayed in time by an amount T1, so that (monostatic) (13b)
the waveform Vo at the target may be written 4r AfI
Vo sin 2w7r(f + fai) (t - T1) + sin 27(f2 + fa2) (I which is the same as (5) in Chapter 5 of Ridenour.2 Both - T1)
(13a) and (13b) illustrate the principle that a measure-
sin [2wr(f + fa)t - 27r(fi +fa) T1] ment of distance is a measurement of the variation of
+ sin [27r(f2 +fa2)t -27r(f2 +fa2) T1], (9) phase with respect to frequency.
The accuracy of the distance or range measurements
where fal=- vtfic/ and fa2 = vtf2/c are the Doppler fre- indicated by (13a) or (13b) depends upon the accuracy
quency shifts of fi and f2, respectively, vt iS the velocity of the phase measurement AO. It can be shown that the
of the target relative to the transmitter, c is the velocity theoretical rms error aq in measuring the phase AO, when
the signal-to-noise ratio is large, is
19 R. Lees, "A generalized theory of radar observations," in 1
"Avionics Research: Satellites and Problems of Long Range De- -+=(2S V)1!(14)
tection and Tracking," Pergamon Press, New York, Ardograph No.
40; 1960. (2SIX\) 1/ 2

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1961 Skolnik: An Analysis of Bistatic Radar 27

Therefore, the theoretical rms error of the distance tional accuracy is required, a fourth frequency could be
measurement is transmitted and its ambiguities resolved by the less
accurate but unambiguous measurements obtained
c 1 fromfl,f2, and f3.
(bistatic)
27rAf (2SIN))/2 The method for measuring range by measuring the
c 1
phase difference between separated frequencies is
(monostatic) analogous to measuring the angle of arrival or angular
47rwf (2S/N)) /2 direction in a radar by measuring the phase difference
between widely spaced antennas as in an interferometer
It is of interest to compare the accuracy of the mono- antenna. The interferometer gives an accurate but
static radar-range measurement using the two-fre- ambiguous measurement of angle. The ambiguities may
quency waveform with a radar using a bandwidth be resolved by use of additional antennas spaced closer
limited rectangular pulse of width r. The bandwidth together. The spacing between the antennas in the in-
occupied by the transmitted pulse is made equal to terferometers corresponds to the separation between fre-
Af. Using the theory of Woodward,20 the rms error for quencies in the multiple-frequency, distance-measurin-g
such a waveform when the signal-to-noise ratio (SIN) technique. The M1initrack system is an example of an
is large may be shown to be approximately given by interferometer which resolves angular ambiguities in a
c manner analogous to that described above.2'
4 c( )(16) Both the interferometer and the multi-frequency dis-
4,Af (S/,N)1/ tance-measuring technique fail if more than one target
A comparison of (15b) and (16) shows that the error of is present, unless the targets can be resolved by some
the two-frequency technique is less than the error of a other means, such as by differences in their Doppler
simple rectangular pulse radar of comparable frequency frequencies or differences in angle. The accuracy of an
band by the factor wV-\12. angle measurement with an interferometer depends
The distance measurements given by (13a) or (13b) upon the distance between the extremes of the antenna.
are unambiguous so long as AO is less than 2r radians. The space in between may be empty as it is in a two-
The maximum unambiguous distance or range is there- element interferometer. However, if two or more targets
fore are to be resolved from one another, the entire aperture
must be filled in, as with a closely spaced array antenna
c
Sunamb ig. (bistatic) or a reflector antenna. Similarly, in the multiple-
Af frequency technique, the accuracy is determined by the
c difference between the largest and the smallest fre-
Runamblig. = f (monostatic) quency. Additional frequencies must be added in be-
*2,Af tween if the measurement is to be unambiguous. The
The frequency difference zAf must not be too large if entire spectrum must be continuous if targets are to be
unambiguous measurements are to be made. But (15) both resolved and unambiguous.
states that the smaller the frequency difference, the Although the multiple-frequency distance-measuring
greater will be the error in measurement. Thus, the technique was described in terms of a CW transmission,
selection of Af represents a compromise between the re- it can also be applied to improving the range measure-
quirements of accuracy and ambiguity. ment of a long pulse radar such as might be used for
A measurement both accurate and unambiguous can satellite tracking or space surveillance.
be made by simultaneous transmission of three or more ACKNOWLEDGMENT
frequencies instead of just two. For example, if the
three frequencies arefl,f2, andf3, where (f3 -fi) k(f2 -f,) A part of the analysis of bistatic radar presented in
and k is some constant>>1 (perhaps the order of 10 or this paper was based on work performed while the
20), the pair of frequenciesf3, f' give an ambiguous but author was a staff member of Lincoln Laboratory of the
accurate measurement while the pair of frequencies f2, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lexington,
f, are chosen close enough so that the ambiguities in the Mass. The remaining part was performed at and sup-
f3, f' measurement may be resolved. Similarly, if addi- ported by the Research Division of Electronic Com-
munications, Inc., Timonium, Md.
20 P. M. Woodward, "Probability and Information Theory, with
Applications to Radar," McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York, 21 J. T. Mengel; "Tracking the earth satellite and data trans-
N. Y.; 1953. See especially ch. 6. mission by radio," PROC. IRE, vol. 44, pp. 755-760; June, 1956.

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