An FMCW MIMO radar calibration and mutual coupling compensation approach

Calibration is an important topic in MIMO radar and phased array systems. Variations of the gains and phases of RF components as well as mutual coupling are prominent examples of error sources in such systems. Different measurement-based calibration procedures have been developed to tackle these problems. Most of them rely on well-defined calibration measurement scenarios. In this paper we present a calibration method that can help to reduce the effects of channel variations and mutual coupling on the side-lobes of such systems with relaxed requirements on the calibration setup. The paper contains both simulation and measurement results that verify the proposed method.