Abstract
Current low-altitude radar system often fails to detect small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) because of their small radar cross section (RCS) compared with larger targets. As a potential alternative, a passive bistatic radar system has been considered. We study an optimal deployment problem for the passive bistatic radar system. We model this problem as a covering problem, and develop an integer programming model. The objective of the model is to maximize coverage of a passive bistatic radar system. Our model takes into account factors specific to a bistatic radar system, including bistatic RCS and transmitter-receiver pair coverage. Considering bistatic RCS instead of constant RCS is important because the slight difference of RCS value for small UAVs could significantly influence the detection probability. The paired radar coverage is defined by using the concept of gradual coverage and cooperative coverage to represent a realistic environment.