Definition
A radar system in which the transmitter and the receiver are located at separate sites, rather than sharing a single antenna at one location. The transmitter sends out the radio energy from one place, and a receiver some distance away picks up the signals reflected from the target.
Plain English
A radar setup where the part that sends the signal and the part that listens for the echo are in two different places, not in one box together.
Context Anchor
Seen in radar surveillance, air defense, and aviation system descriptions, especially when discussing how aircraft are detected and tracked.
Derivation
From Latin 'bi-' meaning 'two' and Greek 'statikos' meaning 'standing' or 'stationary'. So 'bistatic' literally means 'two stations' -- which is exactly what this radar uses: two separate sites, one to transmit and one to receive.
Why Pilots Care
Most radar a pilot encounters is monostatic (transmitter and receiver in one unit). Knowing that bistatic systems exist helps pilots understand certain military and surveillance radar setups, especially when reading about air defense or stealth detection.
Analogy
It is like one person shining a flashlight at an object while another person, standing somewhere else, watches for the light that bounces back.
Intuition Check
Bistatic radar is not radar affected by static electricity. It means the radar sender and radar listener are in two separate places.
Example Sentence 1
Unlike the weather radar in the cockpit, a bistatic radar uses one site to send the signal and a separate site to receive the return.
Example Sentence 2
Engineers tested the bistatic radar installation to verify accurate aircraft tracking across the divided transmitter and receiver sites.