Editing Multistatic radar (section)

===Detection===
Increased coverage in multistatic radar may be obtained via the spreading of the radar geometry throughout the surveillance area - such that targets might be more likely to be physically closer to transmitter receiver-pairs and thus attain a higher [[signal-to-noise ratio]].

Spatial diversity may also be beneficial when combining information from multiple transmitter-receiver pairs which have a shared coverage.  By weighting and integrating individual returns (such as through likelihood ratio based detectors), detection can be optimised to place more emphasis on stronger returns obtained from certain monostatic or bistatic [[radar cross section]] values, or from favourable propagation paths, when making a decision as to whether a target is present.  This is analogous to the use of [[antenna diversity]] in an attempt to improve links in wireless communications.

This is useful where multipath or shadowing effects might otherwise lead to the potential for poor detection performance if only a single radar is used. One notable area of interest is in sea clutter, and how diversity in reflectivity and Doppler shift might prove beneficial for detection in a maritime environment.

Many [[Stealth technology#Vehicle shape|stealth]] vehicles are designed to reflect radar energy away from expected radar sources in order to present as small a return to a monostatic system as possible. This leads to more energy being radiated in directions that are only available to multistatic receivers.