Preliminary experimental results of polarimetric detection schemes for DVB-T based passive radar

Suitable methods to jointly exploit the diversity of information conveyed by different polarimetric channels in Passive Coherent Location (PCL) systems are a topic of current research. Possible signal processing strategies were devised for FM radio based PCL with the purpose of enhancing the target detection capability and their benefits were largely demonstrated. This paper presents the results from a preliminary investigation carried out considering a multi-channel PCL system exploiting DVB-T signals. The performance improvements yield by different polarimetric detection schemes are analyzed comparatively using an experimental data set. The employed multichannel PCL system PARASOL, from Fraunhofer FHR, features two linearly orthogonally polarized receiving channels. The results obtained show that a polarimetric-Generalized Likelihood Ratio Test (P-GLRT) detection scheme yields a remarkable improvement in terms of detection capability, with respect to both the exploitation of a single polarization and to the non-coherent integration of the information conveyed by the different polarimetric channels.