contents passive radar research and development in south

Contents Passive Radar Research and

Development in South Africa – Status

Update

Presenter: Dr. Francois Maasdorp

for EW SA, International Conference & Exhibition, Pretoria

November 2017

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Contents

Background on Passive Radar

Applications and Benefits

Past R&D in South Africa

Current & Future R&D in South Africa (CSIR perspective)

– Development of an FM band Passive Radar Testbed

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Non-Standardised name for Passive Radar

• Passive Radar also known as:

– Passive Coherent Location (PCL)

– Passive Bistatic Radar (PBR)

– Piggy Back Radar

– Covert Radar

– Green Radar

– Commensal Radar

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Radar – As we know it

Transmit / Receive

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Bistatic Radar

Transmit Receive

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Passive Radar / Passive Coherent Location

Use Broadcasting Tower as transmitter

Receive

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Benefits and Applications

• Covert – receive only/minimal hardware

– Not give away own location

• Cost effective radar – receive

– No RF spectrum license/transmission required

– Low hardware cost

– Low life cycle/maintenance cost

• Highly Mobile – receive only/minimal hardware

• Non-cooperative air/naval platform detection technique

• Foreseen Applications

– Gap filling to radar networks (Civil Aviation & Defence)

• Incl. covering small airdromes

– Border safeguarding

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Passive Radar R&D - South Africa

• CSIR (Institute Role)

• University of Cape Town (Academic)

• University of Pretoria (Academic)

• Peralex (Industry)

• Lochtron (Industry)

• Armscor (Funding)

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FM Radio Coverage - Southern African

Countries

80 km

150 km

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Past Research – Single Site Tracking

• West Coast, Western Cape, SA (2014)

– Piketberg FM transmitter

• Tracking (2-D)

– Cessna 208

– Range and Angle

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Past Research – Multi-Static Tracking

• Western Cape, SA (2014)

– Cape Town FM transmitter

• Detection and tracking (2-D)

– Boeing like targets

– Off-line processing

Atlantic Rx

Kalbaskraal Rx

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Past Research – Detection Range &

Platform recognition

• Gauteng, SA (2013)

– Sentech FM Transmitter

• Detection Ranges

– Cessna 172 (2000 ft AGL)

• 168km (Bistatic)

– Boeings

• 400 km (Bistatic)

• Target Recognition (towards)

– Accurately estimate the RPM of

a Cessna 172 propeller

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CSIR R&D – Passive Radar Long Term

Test

• Passive Radar Emerging

Technology

– Significant research at Conferences/Journals since 2010

• Yet a lack of market acceptance of

this technology to date

– Lack of long term qualification data

• CSIR currently developing a

Passive Radar Test Bed facility

– Aim to exploit FM radio (Africa)

– 3 years period

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Passive Radar - Test Bed Development

• 6 Radar Receiver Nodes

– Geographically separated

– Range, Doppler, Angle Processing

• 1 Central Node

– Target tracking

– Database

• Reference Source

– ATNS

– ADS-B

• Connected with high

bandwidth capacity links

– 10 Gbps South African Research Network (SANREN)

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Area of Deployment – O.R. Tambo Airport

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Passive Radar Node – CSIR, DPSS

Reference

antenna on

a mast

Housing of equipment inside here

Surveillance

antennas

Receiver

Processing PC

UPS

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Passive Radar Node – SANSA SO

Receiver

Processing PC

Reference

antenna

Housing of equipment inside here

Surveillance

antennas

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Functionality - Receiver Node

• 3-channel receiver

– 1 x Reference channel, 2 x Surveillance channels

• Real-time GP-GPU based data processing

– Transform I/Q sample data to target detection data

• Range, Doppler, Angle

– Fixed CPI, PFA

• Stream target detection data (Visualise at central node)

– Range, Doppler, Angle

– Signal power per detection

– Noise floor per detection

– Weather data

• Store sampled I/Q data

– Link down time

– Process different detection thresholds (PFA), CPIs, etc.

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Functionality – Central Node

• Process target detection data

– Range, Doppler, Angle to target position

– Data association

– Target tracking

• Interface to truth data sensors

– Primary Surveillance Radar (OR Tambo)

– Secondary Surveillance Radar (OR Tambo)

– ADS-B receiver

• Store all data to database

– Including weather data

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Probability of Detection - CSIR

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Probability of Detection - SANSA

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Joint Probability of Detection – CSIR&SANSA

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Joint Tracking Density – CSIR & SANSA

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Future - FM Based Passive Radar Long

Term Test

FORESEEN for YEAR 3 – ending March 2019

• 6 Node FM based Passive Radar Infrastructure

• Central Node • 2/3-D Tracking • Database and statistics generation • Web based server for data sharing

• Add DVB-T2 Illuminator to support FM/DVB-T2 data fusion

• Benefit from increased range resolution

• Cooperative platform trials for 6 nodes

Thank you

Francois Maasdorp (fmaasdorp@csir.co.za)