Cramér-Rao Bounds for UMTS-Based Passive Multistatic Radar

Abstract

Owing to the favorable ambiguity function properties and the increased deployment, mobile communications systems are useful for passive bistatic radar applications. Further, simultaneously using multiple illuminators in a multistatic configuration will improve the radar performance, providing spatial diversity and increased resolution. We compute modified Cramér-Rao lower bounds (MCRLB) for the target parameter (delay, Doppler) estimation error using universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) signals as illuminators of opportunity for passive multistatic radar systems. We consider both coherent and non-coherent processing modes. These expressions for MCRLB are an important performance metric in that they enable the selection of the optimal illuminators for estimation.