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Britain Could Switch Off Airport Radar and Release 5G Spectrum

Posted by samzenpus on from the open-up dept.

judgecorp writes "Britain is considering switching off air traffic control radar systems and using "passive radar" instead. A two year feasibility study will consider using a network of ground stations which monitor broadcast TV signals and measure echoes from aircraft to determine their location and velocity. The system is not a new idea — early radar experiments used BBC shortwave transmitters as a signal source before antenna technology produced a transceiver suitable for radar — but could now be better than conventional radar thanks to new antenna designs and signal processing techniques. It will also save money and energy by eliminating transmitters — and release spectrum for 5G services."

2 of 175 comments (clear)

  1. A lot of signals .... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What do you see if you take a closer look into the VHF signals arround there?

    That's a 50Mhz TV transmiter carrier.

    http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8383/8473254438_2a2f9819d2_o.jpg

    A lot of aircraft reflections everywhere. ;)

    Sould be "easy" to implement a multistatic radar with gnuradio.

    73 de EA1FAQ

    1. Re:A lot of signals .... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Wish you'd posted that logged in so you could get the karma.

      Aircraft scatter on the microwave bands is good fun, with paths from Scotland into Norway and even as far south as Denmark. For those who haven't come across it, this is pretty much what the name suggests - point your aerial up and out over the sea when there are aircraft in roughly the right place, and listen for other stations doing the same and being reflected back off the aircraft fuselage. Because the signal is so tiny (a plane isn't that big, really) you need to use Morse code or one of the small-signal digital modes.

      FB QSO YR 599 OM
      73s de MM0YEQ