Range-Angle-Dependent Beamforming of Pulsed Frequency Diverse Array

Different from the conventional phased array, frequency diverse array (FDA) can provide electronic beam scanning without phase shifters and its beam steering is range-angle-dependent. Nevertheless, reported studies on FDA are most in continuous waveforms and the corresponding beampattern is time-variant, which increases difficulty in controlling the mainbeam direction and complexity of signal processing. To alleviate this problem, a pulsed-FDA is proposed with an aim to generate quasi-static beampattern in this communication. The corresponding constraint is derived together with the method to control the mainbeam direction. Moreover, the range-angle-dependent characteristics of the quasi-static transmit/receive beampattern are addressed considering the radar applications. Besides, range-angle-dependent beampattern significantly enhances the flexibility of beam scanning and its signal processing. Simulation results are in good agreement with the theoretical analysis.