Satellite Communications (SATCOM) Practice Test

In a bistatic radar, the transmitter and receiver are in separate locations. This separation is what distinguishes bistatic setups from monostatic ones, where the same location (often the same antenna) handles both transmitting and receiving. Because the signal goes from the transmitter to the target and then from the target to the receiver, you get two distinct legs of travel and a geometry defined by the transmitter, target, and receiver positions. This arrangement is common in scenarios like a satellite transmitting to a ground-based receiver, or an aircraft-based transmitter with a separate ground receiver. The other statements don’t define bistatic operation. Having the transmitter and receiver at the same place would be monostatic. The idea that a transmitter on a satellite and a receiver on the ground is impossible isn’t accurate—it’s a valid bistatic configuration, but the core description is simply that the two nodes are at different locations. The line-of-sight requirement is a practical concern for radar performance, not what makes a system bistatic.