Bistatic Imaging Using Signals of Opportunity

Project number: 
21031
Sponsor: 
Rincon Research Corporation
Academic year: 
2020-2021
Project Goal: Create a portable system that can use existing radio frequency signals from local television stations, or signals of opportunity, to generate a two-dimensional map of the surrounding reflectors and transmitters.

Various airwave signals and transmissions radiate outward in every direction, bouncing off surfaces until they are either received and interpreted by an antenna or until they dissipate. The team used this property to image direct path and multipath radio frequency reflections from an opportunistic emitter. By determining the directions of incoming reflected signals, the system constructs a two-dimensional, birds’-eye view image of the large reflectors in the surrounding area.

A coherent software defined radio and a four-element antenna array mounted atop a vehicle are used to receive these radio frequency signals. Data are then transmitted to a single-board computer where a beamforming algorithm determines the angle of signal arrival. This information is combined with GPS and inertial measurement unit sensor data to determine the estimated latitude and longitude of the signal’s origin. The system then transmits this data to a laptop ground station that displays a two-dimensional image on a graphical user interface.

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