Longtime Coherent Integration Algorithm for High-Speed Maneuvering Target Detection Using Space-Based Bistatic Radar

A space-based bistatic radar system, typically composed of a satellite as transmitter and an aircraft as receiver, has a larger surveillance area, stronger resistance to damage, and more superior early warning capability for high-speed targets when compared with monostatic radar system. However, the echo signal is more challenging to process because of the high speed of both receiver and transmitter. There are two main problems to be solved in space-based bistatic radar signal processing: constructing geometric model in line with the actual situation to derive the echo signal model and improving detection ability on the basis of the longtime coherent integration algorithm. This article addresses the problem of space-based bistatic radar echo signal modeling and coherent integration for detecting high-speed maneuvering targets. A novel algorithm based on generalized second-order keystone transform and modified product cubic phase function (GSKT-MPCPF) is proposed. First, the bistatic radar system model is constructed and the signal scattered from the moving target is derived. Aiming at seeking a general algorithm which is suitable for space-based bistatic radar system, the GSKT-MPCPF is presented to correct the linear range migration (LRM), the quadratic range migration (QRM), and the Doppler frequency migration (DFM), and estimate the motion parameters of targets simultaneously. The simulations of mono-target and multitargets validate the proposed method. Furthermore, we perform comparisons with several relative algorithms and results show that the proposed algorithm has superior performance.