Bistatic laptop radar: an affordable, silent radar alternative

Passive sensor technology based on noncooperative, coherent broadband sensing can provide a lower power consumption, low cost, light weight and compact (man portable) alternative to active radar sensors in support of quiet surveillance and radio frequency (RF) target imaging. The AF Rome Laboratory and its sponsored industrial community (Syracuse Research Corp., Decision Science Applications, Inc., Technology Service Corp., etc.) have been developing and testing such a passive sensor technology since the early '80s. This development has been based on an integrated electromagnetic support measures (ESM) and broadband coherent passive sensing technology. The goal of this development is to provide a highly efficient, very low power demanding, affordable alternative to active radar, as well as gaining immediately the associable advantages of this technology, which, by its very construction and operating configuration, lends itself to being minimally burnable in weight, size, power consumption, thus supporting man-portability. This presents significant advantages for applications such as counter narcotics drug interdiction, covert surveillance, etc.