Maximal covering location problem modeling on the passive bistatic radar systems for detecting small unmanned aerial vehicles

Abstract

The optimal deployment decision has been studied in this thesis to design the passive bistatic radar system for detecting small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs). Passive bistatic radar system is considered as a viable alternative for an effective detection of small UAVs. This problem has been handled as a covering problem and the integer programming model is proposed. The objective of the model is to maximize coverage of the passive bistatic radar system. The model takes into account factors specific to the bistatic radar system, including bistatic radar coverage and the bistatic RCS of the target. The bistatic radar coverage is defined by using the concept of gradual coverage and cooperative coverage to represent a realistic radar detection environment. Considering bistatic RCS instead of constant RCS is important because the slight difference of RCS value for small UAVs could significantly influence the detection probability. The Approximate Common Reachability Set(ACRS) method, which is the demand aggregation method developed earlier, is applied for handling a large point set in the proposed integer programming model. The method reduces the size of the target points in this thesis. The effectiveness of the proposed model and the demand aggregation method in this thesis have been demonstrated by the experiments. The proposed model provides both the optimal deployment and the accurate understanding of the detectable regions. It is confirmed that the application of the ACRS method convert the large point set into the reasonable size point set, in which the proposed IP can handle.