Optimum and sub-optimum processors for multistatic radar systems

The optimum receiver, allowing for the presence of Gaussian noise and Rayleigh fluctuations of the target echoes, is synthesized for a multistatic radar system. The performance of such a receiver is analyzed, showing that the target detection characteristics of the multistatic system compare advantageously with those of the monostatic system. The inherent complexity of the multistatic structure may be alleviated by a simplified scheme which envisages a number of peripheral decisions in as many conventional receivers, followed by a central decision based on an operations research criterion. The latter design yields a suboptimum receiver, but an assessment of its performance shows the existence of a wide range of operating conditions of practical engineering interest where performance degradation with respect to the optimum receiver is negligible.