Feasibility Study for a Multichannel Forward Scatter Radar Exploiting Amplitude-based Array Processing

This paper introduces the concept of a multichannel Forward Scatter Radar (FSR) system and proposes an amplitude-based spatial signal processing technique for exploiting the benefits of multiple antenna elements. To this purpose, an appropriate signal model is defined and used to demonstrate the feasibility of target detection and direction of arrival (DoA) estimation based on the signal amplitude modulation that the target determines across antennas as it crosses the transmitter-receiver baseline. Therefore, the multi-channel FSR spatial processing principle is illustrated along with design considerations and tested against simulated data. Being based on single signal snapshots, the proposed approach is not affected by the characteristics of the adopted waveform so that transmitters of opportunity can be easily exploited. Also, it offers resilience against phase noise and the absence of phase synchronization which makes it a low-cost and robust solution for target detection and tracking.