Digital beamforming of sub-aperture cluster beams with enhanced angle estimation capabilities

We are motivated to exploit advances in digital radar technology and super-resolution techniques to improve current radar search-and-track functions. In this paper, we focus on the benefits of using digital beamforming for enhancing angle estimation capabilities. These capabilities include flexibility in monopulse processing, using multiple simultaneous beams to extend angle coverage and resolving multiple main-beam targets using clusters of sub-aperture beams. The super-resolution capability is a salient feature to be included in next generation radars that may need to cope with stressful scenarios of closely-spaced targets, or it can be used to relax the resolution requirement in radar design.