Comparison of monostatic and bistatic radar images

Relationships between monostatic and bistatic radar images are reviewed and discussed, both from the point of view of identical receiver locations, and from the conventional point of view where the monostatic radar is located at the angular bisector between the bistatic transmitter and receiver. Example images are computed using scattered fields from two three-dimensional (3D) body-of-revolution (BOR) geometries. A Method-of-Moments solution is used to calculate scattered fields so that no scattering interactions are neglected. In the conventional comparison, sample bistatic images show direct-scattering mechanisms similar to those of monostatic images as expected, although significant differences are observed in higher-order scattering effects. With identical receiver locations, the sample bistatic images generated are very different from the monostatic images, and illustrate the practically important fact that geometries designed to minimize monostatic scattering can produce large bistatic returns.