Autocorrelation and modulus constraints in radar waveform optimization

Two methods of constraining the waveform auto-correlation sequence (ACS) in a radar waveform optimization problem are compared. The first method directly constrains the envelope of the waveform ACS, whereas the second method indirectly constrains the waveform ACS through the imposition of a similarity constraint. Both methods are imposed in conjunction with constraints on the waveform modulus. The resulting nonlinear programming problems were formulated for a specific example, and solved using standard numerical algorithms. The results indicate that the similarity constraint may not be a useful means of constraining the waveform ACS when the waveform modulus is simultaneously constrained. The results also demonstrate that phase-only optimization can provide a significant decrease in computation time while providing near optimal results.