A Radar Waveform Design Method Based on Multicarrier Phase Coding for Suppressing Autocorrelation Sidelobes

Area of Science:

• Radar Systems Engineering
• Signal Processing
• Waveform Design

Background:

• Multicarrier phase-coded radar waveforms (MCPC) integrate phase coding with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) for broadband applications.
• High autocorrelation sidelobe levels in MCPC waveforms hinder optimal system performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel two-stage joint optimization waveform design method for enhanced sidelobe suppression in radar systems.
• To develop advanced MCPC waveforms that overcome the limitations of existing designs.

Main Methods:

• A two-stage approach was employed: first, constructing an AC-MCPC signal using chaotic time-domain coding and a Hamming frequency-domain window for initial sidelobe reduction.
• Second, developing the AC-MCPC-g signal by retaining chaotic coding and optimizing window function parameters via a genetic algorithm in the frequency domain for further suppression.

Main Results:

• The proposed AC-MCPC signal demonstrated significantly reduced sidelobes compared to standard MCPC signals.
• The AC-MCPC-g signal achieved even greater sidelobe suppression, building upon the AC-MCPC design.

Conclusions:

• The developed two-stage optimization method effectively suppresses autocorrelation sidelobes in multicarrier phase-coded radar waveforms.
• The AC-MCPC-g signal offers a promising solution for improving the performance of broadband radar systems by minimizing sidelobe interference.