On Probing Signal Design for MIMO Radar

A MIMO (multi-input multi-output) radar system, unlike a standard phased-array radar, can choose freely the probing signals transmitted via its antennas to maximize the power around the locations of the targets of interest, or more generally to approximate a given transmit beampattern, and also to minimize the cross-correlation of the signals reflected back to the radar by the targets of interest. In this paper, we show how the above desirable features can be achieved by designing the covariance matrix of the probing signal vector transmitted by the radar. Moreover, in a numerical study, we show that the proper choice of the probing signals can significantly improve the performance of adaptive MIMO radar techniques. Additionally, we demonstrate the advantages of several MIMO transmit beampattern designs, including a beampattern matching design and a minimum sidelobe beampattern design, over their phased- array counterparts.