Low sidelobe interleaved transmit-receive antennas for FMCW radar applications

The advantages of interleaving the transmit and receive array antennas of an FMCW radar system in the same aperture were discussed. By dividing the real estate into sub-regions and applying to the two interleaved sub-arrays a thinning according to a Taylor illumination function, remarkably low sidelobes, below −40 dB for the radar two-way radiation pattern, were obtained. Some possible aperture partition alternatives were presented. Finally, it has been demonstrated that interleaving methodologies and thinning strategies can be proficiently combined to produce array factors with well-shaped beams and very low sidelobes.