A centralized approach for ship target detection and localization with multi-transmitters GNSS-based passive radar

This work focuses on ship target detection and localization with a passive radar system exploiting multiple navigation satellites. Particularly, a centralized approach, entirely working on the Cartesian plane, is proposed to achieve a joint detection and localization of the targets. The approach can outperform conventional decentralized approaches, where individual decisions are taken at each bistatic link and, in a second stage, localization is implemented via bistatic ranges intersection. Theoretical formulations of the probability of detection and localization for both the centralized and decentralized techniques are derived in the case of target radar cross section variation among the different links, likely occurring in the system under consideration. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is tested by means of simulated analysis. Experimental results are also provided, verifying its potentiality in practical applications.