Bistatic Radar - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

The principal advantages of bistatic and multistatic radar include:

• Lower procurement and maintenance costs (if using a third party's transmitter)
• Operation without a frequency clearance (if using a third party's transmitter)
• Covert operation of the receiver
• Increased resilience to electronic countermeasures as waveform being used and receiver location are potentially unknown
• Possible enhanced radar cross section of the target due to geometrical effects
• Separate receiver is very light and mobile while transmitter can be very heavy and powerful (surface to air missile)

The principal disadvantages of bistatic and multistatic radar include:

• System complexity
• Costs of providing communication between sites
• Lack of control over transmitter (if exploiting a third party transmitter)
• Harder to deploy
• Reduced low-level coverage due to the need for line-of-sight from several locations