Site-specific performance gain of optimal MIMO radar in heterogeneous clutter

Traditional multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) radar techniques use a fixed set of quasiorthogonal waveforms transmitted from unique phase centers in the system antenna array. Recent research in cognitive radar has resulted in new ways of thinking about MIMO radar systems. New cognitive fully-adaptive radar (CoFAR) theory has shown that the optimal waveform solution in clutter-limited environments is not necessarily a set of orthogonal waveforms, but instead is the solution to an eigensystem involving the clutter channel Green's function. This paper presents new analysis of optimal MIMO waveform techniques using high-fidelity, site-specific clutter models. We use the ideal clutter channel model based on terrain and land cover databases to compute the optimal MIMO waveform performance gain. We show how the gain of optimal MIMO radar is highly dependent on the operating environment and can vary significantly versus time within the same radar mission, further making the case for next generation adaptive (cognitive) radar.