Optimization of a MIMO radar antenna system for automotive applications

Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) radars can improve the angular resolution of automotive radar sensors. In MIMO radars, a critical design parameter is finding the optimal placement of the transmitting and receiving arrays. Indeed, the physical position of the transceivers affects directly the properties of the virtual array. Unfortunately, the inverse mapping from the virtual array to the real transmitter-receiver configuration is still analytically unsolved. In this paper, a genetic algorithm is employed to search the optimal antenna placement. The fitness function exploits the characteristics of the ambiguity function and this allows potentially to control the ambiguity-free region of the antenna system. Numerical and experimental results confirm the suitability of this design procedure.