Geometry-Induced Acceleration in Case of a Straight-Line Target Trajectory in Bistatic Radar

Bistatic radar signal processing often assumes a constant velocity for target detection. The bistatic geometry alters, however, the effectively measurable velocity in relation to the target position and motion even if the target has a constant ground speed. Hence, the bistatic geometry induces instantaneous bistatic target acceleration. This is especially the case if a straight-line target trajectory cuts across several closely spaced velocity isolines. The letter tries to quantify this geometry-induced instantaneous bistatic acceleration, in general, for straight-line target trajectories. Thereby, position-dependent acceleration values are derived for a practical use case.