Spatial Information-Theoretic Optimal LPI Radar Waveform Design

Abstract

In this paper, the design of low probability of intercept (LPI) radar waveforms considers not only the performance of passive interception systems (PISs), but also radar detection and resolution performance. Waveform design is an important considerations for the LPI ability of radar. Since information theory has a powerful performance-bound description ability from the perspective of information flow, LPI waveforms are designed in this paper within the constraints of the detection performance metrics of radar and PISs, both of which are measured by the Kullback–Leibler divergence, and the resolution performance metric, which is measured by joint entropy. The designed optimization model of LPI waveforms can be solved using the sequential quadratic programming (SQP) method. Simulation results verify that the designed LPI waveforms not only have satisfactory target-detecting and resolution performance, but also have a superior low interception performance against PISs.

Keywords

• LPI
• radar waveform
• passive interception systems
• Kullback–Leibler divergence
• joint entropy