Multitarget Direct Localization Using Block Sparse Bayesian Learning in Distributed MIMO Radar

The target localization in distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar is a problem of great interest. This problem becomes more complicated for the case of multitarget where themeasurement should be associated with the correct target. Sparse representation has been demonstrated to be a powerful framework for direct position determination (DPD) algorithms which avoid the association process. In this paper, we explore a novel sparsity-based DPD method to locate multiple targets using distributed MIMO radar. Since the sparse representation coefficients exhibit block sparsity, we use a block sparse Bayesian learning (BSBL) method to estimate the locations of multitarget, which has many advantages over existing block sparse model based algorithms. Experimental results illustrate that DPD using BSBL can achieve better localization accuracy and higher robustness against block coherence and compressed sensing (CS) than popular algorithms in most cases especially for dense targets case