sensors Article Experimental Verification of the Concept of Using LOFAR Radio-Telescopes as Receivers in Passive Radiolocation Systems † Julia Kłos 1, Konrad J˛edrzejewski 1,* , Aleksander Droszcz 1, Krzysztof Kulpa 1 , Mariusz Pozoga˙ 2 and Jacek Misiurewicz 1 1 Institute of Electronic Systems, Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology, Warsaw University of Technology, Nowowiejska 15/19, 00-665 Warsaw, Poland;
[email protected] (J.K.);
[email protected] (A.D.);
[email protected] (K.K.);
[email protected] (J.M.) 2 Space Research Centre Polish Academy of Science, Bartycka 18A, 00-716 Warsaw, Poland;
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[email protected]; Tel.: +48-22-234-5883 † This paper is an extended version of the paper published in the 2020 21st International Radar Symposium (IRS). Abstract: The paper presents a new idea of using a low-frequency radio-telescope belonging to the LO- FAR network as a receiver in a passive radar system. The structure of a LOFAR radio-telescope station is described in the context of applying this radio-telescope for detection of aerial (airplanes) and space (satellite) targets. The theoretical considerations and description of the proposed signal processing schema for the passive radar based on a LOFAR radio-telescope are outlined in the paper. The results of initial experiments verifying the concept of a LOFAR station use as a receiver and Citation: Kłos, J.; J˛edrzejewski,K.; a commercial digital radio broadcasting (DAB) transmitters as illuminators of opportunity for aerial Droszcz, A.; Kulpa, K.; Pozoga,˙ M.; object detection are presented.