GNSS-based passive radar for maritime surveillance: Long integration time MTI technique

The exploitation of the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) as transmitters of opportunity in passive radar systems for maritime surveillance is particularly attractive because of the main advantages consisting in a global coverage (even in open sea) and in the availability of multiple sources (different satellites and constellations). The main drawback stays in the restricted power budget provided by navigation satellites. This makes necessary to conceive, define and develop innovative moving target detection techniques specifically tailored for the system under consideration, in order to make this technology a powerful tool for persistent surveillance of sea areas of interest. To this aim, a long integration time Maritime Moving Target Indication technique is proposed in this work, and its effectiveness is proved against experimental data involving a small maritime target, not detectable by conventional MTI techniques. Obtained results prove the feasibility of a maritime MTI mode for GNSS based passive systems.