Modified Cramér-Rao lower bounds for joint position and velocity estimation of a Rician target in OFDM-based passive radar networks

Owing to the increased deployment and the favorable range and Doppler resolutions, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM)-based L band digital aeronautical communication system type 1 (LDACS1) stations have become attractive systems for target surveillance in passive radar applications. This paper investigates the problem of joint parameter (position and velocity) estimation of a Rician target in OFDM-based passive radar network systems with multichannel receivers placed on moving platforms, which are composed of multiple OFDM-based LDACS1 transmitters of opportunity and multiple radar receivers. The modified Cramér-Rao lower bounds (MCRLBs) on the Cartesian coordinates of target position and velocity are computed, where the received signal from the target is composed of dominant scatterer (DS) component and weak isotropic scatterers (WIS) component. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate that the target parameter estimation accuracy can be improved by exploiting the DS component. It also shows that the joint MCRLB is not only a function of the transmitted waveform parameters, target radar cross section, and signal-to-noise ratio but also a function of the relative geometry between the target and the passive radar networks. The analytical expressions of MCRLB can be utilized as a performance metric to access the target parameter estimation in OFDM-based passive radar networks in that they enable the selection of optimal transmitter-receiver pairs for target estimation.