Space-time transmit signal construction for multi-mode radar

This paper addresses the problem of constructing, selecting, and/or evaluating non-separable space-time transmit functions for radar transmitters. By expressing a constrained space-time transmit function as a superposition of space-time basis functions, this problem is recast as finding an optimal set of superposition weights, which are collected and expressed as complex transmit vectors. Optimality in this problem is defined as the transmit vector that results in an optimal radar measurement, and thus depends on the radar task, target scenario, and receiver construction. After discussing the properties of the ideal (but unobtainable) radar measurement, an information theoretic criterion is presented as a logical method for selecting optimal transmit vectors. A numeric simulation demonstrates the efficacy of this method.