MIMO Radar Waveform Optimization With Prior Information of the Extended Target and Clutter

The concept of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar allows each transmitting antenna element to transmit an arbitrary waveform. This provides extra degrees of freedom compared to the traditional transmit beamforming approach. It has been shown in the recent literature that MIMO radar systems have many advantages. In this paper, we consider the joint optimization of waveforms and receiving filters in the MIMO radar for the case of extended target in clutter. A novel iterative algorithm is proposed to optimize the waveforms and receiving filters such that the detection performance can be maximized. The corresponding iterative algorithms are also developed for the case where only the statistics or the uncertainty set of the target impulse response is available. These algorithms guarantee that the SINR performance improves in each iteration step. Numerical results show that the proposed methods have better SINR performance than existing design methods

Non-cooperative code design in radar networks: a game-theoretic approach

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Transmit Waveform Optimization for Spatial-Frequency Diversity MIMO Radar in the Presence of Clutter

Benefitting from the independent target echoes of diversity channels, diversity MIMO radar can efficiently improve system performance, such as target detection and parameter estimation. Due to the fact that the RCS (radar cross section) of complex target may vary with the different transmitted carrier frequencies and array geometries, many recent researches study at the background of diversity MIMO radar equipped with widely separated array antennas or working at multiple carrier frequencies, respectively. In this paper, a new MIMO radar system combining the spatial and frequency diversities is investigated in the presence of signal-dependent clutter, which is called spatial-frequency diversity MIMO radar. With the prior information of target and clutter, a new method for joint optimization of transmitted waveforms and receiving filters is proposed to enhance the target detection ability of spatial-frequency diversity MIMO radar. Inspired by the MIMO communication system, the water-filling algorithm is introduced into the transmitted energy allocation problem for each carrier frequency channel. Simulation results show that the proposed system has a better performance in output signal-to-clutter-noise ratio (SCNR) compared to conventional diversity MIMO radar system

Active and Passive Multi-Sensor Radar Imaging Techniques Exploiting Spatial Diversity

The work here presented reports several innovative SAR and ISAR radar imaging techniques exploiting the spatial diversity offered by multi-sensor systems in order to improve the performance with respect to the conventional, single channel cases. Both the cases of dedicated transmitters and exploitation of opportunity transmitters are considered

Active and Passive Multi-Sensor Radar Imaging Techniques Exploiting Spatial Diversity

The work here presented reports several innovative SAR and ISAR radar imaging techniques exploiting the spatial diversity offered by multi-sensor systems in order to improve the performance with respect to the conventional, single channel cases. Both the cases of dedicated transmitters and exploitation of opportunity transmitters are considered

Cognitive Radar Detection in Nonstationary Environments and Target Tracking

Target detection and tracking are the most fundamental and important problems in a wide variety of defense and civilian radar systems. In recent years, to cope with complex environments and stealthy targets, the concept of cognitive radars has been proposed to integrate intelligent modules into conventional radar systems. To achieve better performance, cognitive radars are designed to sense, learn from, and adapt to environments. In this dissertation, we introduce cognitive radars for target detection in nonstationary environments and cognitive radar networks for target tracking.For target detection, many algorithms in the literature assume a stationary environment (clutter). However, in practical scenarios, changes in the nonstationary environment can perturb the parameters of the clutter distribution or even alter the clutter distribution family, which can greatly deteriorate the target detection capability. To avoid such potential performance degradation, cognitive radar systems are envisioned which can rapidly recognize the nonstationarity, accurately learn the new characteristics of the environment, and adaptively update the detector. To achieve this cognition, we propose a unifying framework that integrates three functions: (i) change-point detection of clutter distributions by using a data-driven cumulative sum (CUSUM) algorithm and its extended version, (ii) learning/identification of clutter distribution by using kernel density estimation (KDE) methods and similarity measures (iii) adaptive target detection by automatically modifying the likelihood-ratio test and the corresponding detection threshold. We also conduct extensive numerical experiments to show the merits of the proposed method compared to a nonadaptive case, an adaptive matched filter (AMF) method, and the clairvoyant case.For target tracking, with remarkable advances in sensor techniques and deployable platforms, a sensing system has freedom to select a subset of available radars, plan their trajectories, and transmit designed waveforms. Accordingly, we propose a general framework for single target tracking in cognitive networks of radars, including joint consideration of waveform design, path planning, and radar selection. We formulate the tracking procedure using the theories of dynamic graphical models (DGM) and recursive Bayesian state estimation (RBSE). This procedure includes two iterative steps: (i) solving a combinatorial optimization problem to select the optimal subset of radars, waveforms, and locations for the next tracking instant, and (ii) acquiring the recursive Bayesian state estimation to accurately track the target. Further, we use an illustrative example to introduce a specific scenario in 2-D space. Simulation results based on this scenario demonstrate that the proposed framework can accurately track the target under the management of a network of radars