Three-Dimensional Extensions of Resolvability of Two Point Targets in MIMO Radar Using a Hypothesis Test Formulation

Abstract

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar has been extensively studied in recent years, due to its outstanding performance in various aspects. Resolution and estimation of the targets’ parameters are central capabilities of a MIMO radar system. In this paper, the resolution performance of MIMO radar in terms of the three-dimensional statistical resolution limit (3D SRL) is investigated, where three-dimension refers to direction of arrival (DOA), direction of departure (DOD), and Doppler frequency of a target. The scenario of two closely spaced targets corrupted by broadband noise with/without clutter sources is considered and the closed-form expression of the resolution threshold, which is the minimum signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) required for a given resolution performance, is derived using a generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) formulation. Finally, both theoretical and numerical analyses are provided for some insights regarding the resolution limit.