An investigation of the trade-offs between electronic protection and processing efficiency in a multistatic noise radar network

The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) has developed an experimental multistatic ultrawideband (UWB) random noise (RN) radar to produce highly accurate, highly resolved imagery. Recent experimental studies have shown sub meter range resolution performance. A focus of current research is the reduction of signal processing and network latency in multistatic range calculations, while maintaining a high level of electronic protection (EP). Investigated here is the development and application of a software model to accelerate exploration of new concepts in support of this research. The software model, developed using Simulink^®, was verified component-by-component and as a whole with both theoretical and measured performance of the UWB-RN radar hardware. The Simulink^® model was then applied to qualitatively analyze the EP performance of known pseudorandom template play-back strategies as compared to traditional RN waveforms. Key to this concept is the fact these templates are captured from a thermal noise source and are therefore truly wide-sense stationary, uncorrelated waveforms. The analysis reveals that properly designed pseudorandom templates provide an equivalent level of EP and may provide up to a 75% increase in multistatic processing efficiency.