Spectrally interleaved multi‐carrier signals for radar network applications and multi‐input multi‐output radar

A modification of the classical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing signals is discussed that allows for the creation of a set of perfectly orthogonal transmit signals sharing the same bandwidth. These signals can be employed for performing radar measurements with multiple transmitters being simultaneously active, for example, in radar networks or multi‐input multi‐output radar applications. Since all the signals of the individual transmitters occupy the full available bandwidth, no deterioration of the achievable range resolution occurs. This study comprises both the theoretical considerations as well as the verification simulations and measurements. A particular focus is on the requirements regarding the frequency and time synchronisation of the individual signals and their impact on the achievable performance. The influence of possible Doppler shifts is also considered. Finally, a performance comparison with classical code‐based multiple user access techniques is provided. The achieved results demonstrate that the proposed multi‐carrier waveforms clearly outperform the classical code‐based approach under realistic assumptions of synchronisation accuracy.