Bistatic scattering centres of cone-shaped targets and target length estimation

The bistatic scattering centres are commonly modeled as the fixed scattering centres for imaging; however, the location of the bistatic scattering centre changes with the bistatic geometry in some real scenes. This paper focuses on the bistatic scattering centres of cone-shaped targets and considers how to utilize the length of the bistatic high-resolution range profile (HRRP) for target identification. Firstly, the locations of the bistatic scattering centres on the edge of a cone-shaped target are deduced with the method of equivalent currents, which are the intersection points of the edge and the plane constructed by the symmetry axis and the bisector of the bistatic angle. Then, based on the above conclusion, the wideband echo model and bistatic HRRP of a cone-shaped target is deduced. Then, the relation between the length of the bistatic HRRP and target length is deduced, which is useful for target identification. Finally, the bistatic HRRPs of cone-shaped targets are calculated via the Feko software and the calculated results validate the theoretical analysis. This research provides an exact mathematics model for the echo simulation, imaging, feature extraction and identification of cone-shaped targets in the bistatic radar.