Piecewise LFM waveform for MIMO radar

To separate the received signals in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar, the transmitted signals should be orthogonal or have a low cross-correlation level. Some other properties, such as low autocorrelation sidelobes, high range resolution, and good Doppler tolerance are also desired. However, they are difficult to achieve simultaneously. In general, an improved criterion is at the cost of another degraded one. In this paper, we propose a piecewise linear frequency modulation (PLFM) waveform for the MIMO radar. The transmitted signals are pulse trains, including diversified subpulses, which are divided into three segments with controllable durations and bandwidths. The duration sequence of the second segment is obtained by the genetic algorithm to optimize the cross correlation. Theoretical analyses and numerical results are presented to illustrate the properties of the proposed PLFM waveform. Compared with the polyphase coding and the discrete frequency coding waveforms, the PLFM waveform has a lower cross-correlation level and higher degrees of freedom. The relationship of the bandwidths among different segments can be used to adjust the sidelobe peak and the main lobe width of the autocorrelation function.