| MIMO radars utilize a waveform diverse array to improve radar detection and tracking performance. One metric useful in characterizing the detection performance of a radar system is the power on target, which directly relates to the transmit beampattern. For a single target, a coherent phased array approach is optimal to maximize the power on target. For multiple targets located at spatially separate angles, it is not apparent which transmit beampattern maximizes the power at every target. Since the structure of the signal covariance matrix directly influences the transmit beampattern, we approach the signal covariance matrix design problem using a linear precoder. We show that the linear precoding framework generalizes other MIMO radar transmit schemes, and give examples. The system setup involves partitioning the space into angle bins. The transmit signal is designed such that out of all K angle bins, the angle bin with the least amount of power directed towards it has its power maximized. Results are shown for various methods of designing this transmit signal, under either a total power constraint or an elemental power constraint. |
