A Simple MIMO Radar Architecture for Drone Detection

Radar detection performance for drone detection suffers from several factors such as weak target reflected energy, ground clutter, and random Doppler component. Based on the Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) theory, radar systems have made great progress to reduce the influence of these factors on the Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) or Signal-to-Clutter Ratio (SCR). MIMO radar systems use Doppler Division Multiple Access (DDMA) to transmit orthogonal waveforms to avoid some of the problems in implementing Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA). This paper proposes a simplified model of a DDMA MIMO radar and investigates its performance using Linear Frequency Modulation (LFM), and Nonlinear Frequency Modulation (NLFM) radar waveforms for detection of Small Radar Cross-Section (RCS) targets in the presence of different clutter distributions. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, DDMA MIMO radar detection curves using NLFM waveform shows more efficient performance than using LFM waveform for small RCS target detection.