Passive Radar Based on LOFAR Radio Telescope for Air and Space Target Detection

this paper presents the concept of using the low-frequency array (LOFAR) radio telescope receiver for passive detection of air and space targets using illuminators of opportunity. The LOFAR radio telescope operates in a 110-250 MHz band, thus the focus is on VHF illuminators, such as DAB (digital radio) and DVB-T (digital television). For the detection of air targets, such as aircraft, illuminators of opportunity that are relatively close to the radio telescope are considered. Due to the Earth's surface curvature, the detection of space targets, such as orbital debris, requires the use of transmitters that are far away from the receiver. The paper presents a theoretical study of the detection range for aerial and space targets and preliminary results of the detection of air targets using nearby transmitters.