Passive radar concept for automotive applications

With the rapid and growing diffusion of the automotive radar technology in modern vehicles, the problem of mutual interference between radar systems is becoming a major issue. This paper explores the idea of using receive-only sensors onboard vehicles to enable automotive capabilities by exploiting an external illuminator. The passive radar paradigm would eliminate the problem of mutual interference, allowing different systems to share the same transmitted signal. The potentialities offered by a satellite illuminator of opportunity are investigated, analysing the achievable range coverage and spatial resolution. The possibility to resolve stationary scatterers in azimuth and correctly locate them based on the differences in their relative Doppler shift via a Doppler beam sharpening approach is presented in a simulated environment with promising results.