Frequency Agile Generalized Multicarrier Radar

Multicarrier waveforms bring several major advantages over single carrier waveforms in radar systems: frequency diversity, waveform diversity, short time on target and the possibility to optimize the transmitted waveform, to mention a few. Interesting waveform designs have been proposed in the literature already. However, there is no generalized model that can define most well known waveforms and allow the design of new ones in an easy and intuitive way. In this paper we develop such a generalized model that can accommodate various design options. The employed matrix formulation allows for an easy and intuitive implementation of multicarrier and single carrier radar waveforms just by filling in the elements to corresponding matrices accordingly. Moreover, generation of different radar waveforms in simulation environments such as Matlab in an intuitive way is facilitated. The derivation of this generalized model facilitates agile use of multicarrier waveforms in practical implementations. Various frequency agile waveforms are generated using the derived model. The radar performance of these waveforms is analyzed using their ambiguity function plots.