Detecting and Tracking a Small UAV in GSM Passive Radar Using Track-before-Detect

The detection and tracking of consumer grade unmanned aerial vehicles is of great interest in recent years due to threats arising from the widespread availability of such devices. Passive radar is considered as a sensor system capable of contributing to this task. Weak target reflections together with disadvantages of traditional processing schemes make detecting and tracking small drones with passive radar a challenge. The approach of Track-before-Detect applies unthresholded measurements to overcome these actualities and possibly detect previously undetectable targets. In this work it is shown through evaluation of experimental data that Track-before-Detect methods are very capable to successfully detect and track small drones in GSM passive radar.