DVB-T based passive radar demonstrator using digital correlator implemented on NI FlexRIO platform

The aim of the work presented in this paper was to construct a passive radar demonstrator that uses transmitters of DVB-T (Digital Television Broadcasting - Terrestrial). The system uses commercially available, PXI-based (PCI eXtensions for Instrumentation) system including four-channel digitizer and an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The key processing step for this task is calculation of crossambiguity function between reference and surveillance signals. Firstly, the operating parameters of the radar were chosen taking into consideration feasibility of FPGA implementation. Then the correctness of the algorithm was verified in Matlab environment. The next step was to implement the algorithm for FPGA using NI LabVIEW FPGA. Finally, real signals were recorded. This resulted in range-Doppler plots with visible stationary and moving objects.