Low-Complexity Method for Transmit Beamforming in MIMO Radars

MIMO radar is a new concept in which radar employs multiple waveforms to improve its performance. Previously, a transmit beamforming method was proposed for MIMO radars. This method allows optimization of the beampattern by altering the cross-correlation matrix of the transmitted waveforms. The optimization is based on minimization of a cost function, but the use of numerical methods in the algorithm leads to high computational complexity. Here we propose a new cost function for the beampattern optimization. For linear arrays and typical beampatterns, this cost function can be evaluated in closed form, thus reducing the computational complexity considerably. Simulation examples demonstrate that the proposed cost function also leads to faster convergence and lower approximation error.