A Comparative Analysis of Deterministic Detection and Estimation Techniques for MIMO SFCW Radars

Abstract

In this paper, the problem of the joint estimation of the range and azimuth of multiple targets in a multiple-input multiple-output stepped-frequency continuous wave radar system is investigated. Three deterministic algorithms solving it through an iterative beam cancellation procedure are described; moreover, an iterative technique, based on the expectation-maximization algorithm, is developed with the aim of refining their estimates. The accuracy achieved by all the considered algorithms is assessed on the basis of the raw data acquired from a low power wideband radar device. Our results evidence that these algorithms achieve similar accuracies, but at the price of different computational efforts.

Keywords

• Beamforming
• direction of arrival
• multiple-input multiple-output
• radar signal processing
• stepped-frequency continuous-wave