Passive Radar via LTE Signals of Opportunity

Passive radars relying on signals of opportunity enable new applications based on stealth tracking of targets without the need of radar signals emissions. Long term evolution (LTE) base stations employing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals are excellent candidates as illuminators of opportunity thanks to their wide availability. The tracking accuracy of such passive radars depends on prior knowledge (e.g., the wireless environment) and signal processing (e.g., clutter mitigation and tracking algorithm). This paper proposes passive radar systems exploiting LTE base stations as illuminators of opportunity to detect and track moving targets in a monitored environment. We analyze such systems based on a Bayesian framework for detection of moving targets and estimation of their position and velocity. A case study accounting for the LTE extended pedestrian model is presented, with various settings in terms of network configuration, wireless propagation, and signal processing.