5G-based passive radar on a moving platform—Detection and imaging

In recent times, the development of radar systems for automotive applications has gathered significant interest due to the increasing necessity of vehicle situational awareness for new active protection systems and the intensive development of higher autonomous level driving solutions. Therefore, the number of active radars in automotive applications is growing, causing spectrum sharing and interference between radars operating in the same band. Alternative solutions without dedicated electromagnetic transmissions, such as joint communication and radar systems, or even no transmission at all, such as passive radars, have emerged in recent years and are promising solutions to help mitigate the interference problem. A passive automotive radar based on 5G communication signals is proposed as an alternative to active radars to provide situational awareness. The data downlink transmissions provided by an operative 5G base station were combined with a dual-channel passive radar (PR) system deployed on a moving platform to provide moving target detection and radar imaging of the vehicle's surroundings. The outcomes show a possibility of commensal utilisation of the new telecommunication standard for automotive radar applications. The idea of mounting the PR receiver on a moving platform was tested using simulated and real-life data, which shows great potential for joining the new radio (NR) with sensing capabilities using PR. The theory, numerical experiments, and measurement results are dealt with a cooperative 5G base station and PR demonstrator.