Space-time codes for active antenna systems: Comparative performance analysis

In this paper, the basic tools for performance analysis of space-time coding for active antenna systems (or colocated coherent MIMO systems) are presented, and illustrated with four different space-time codes: M-sequences, Alltop codes - quadratic and cubic -, and multiple shifted chirps. The relative effectiveness of these different codes is then measured with specific factors of merit, designed for radar performances evaluation. These factors of merit, easily extracted from the ambiguity functions, are shown to allow operational consequences to be drawn from space-time codes characteristics.