Passive coherent multistatic SAR using spaceborne illuminators

This study shows the methodology of experimentation and experimental results on coherent passive multistatic synthetic aperture radar (SAR) using global navigation satellite systems as transmitters of opportunity. An experimental campaign at the proof of concept level was conducted using transmission from two satellite apertures and a fixed receiver, to emulate a coherent multistatic SAR acquisition. The acquired signals from a point-like source as well as an extended target area were analysed in terms of their k-space support, and then coherently combined to improve spatial resolution. The obtained multistatic results from both experiments confirm that a coherent combination of SAR images with such a system is possible and improves the overall system performance.