A Metric for Selecting Waveforms of Multi-User Wideband Active Sonars

This paper focuses on selection of suitable waveforms for multi-user wideband active sonars. A metric for selecting waveforms for multi-user sonar operation is proposed, namely the multi-user sonar average lobe level. The proposed metric considers both the sidelobe levels of the auto-ambiguity functions and the lobe levels of the cross-ambiguity functions of the waveforms. Our simulations show that the proposed metric can be an accurate indicator of the detection performance of different waveforms in the case of multi-user sonars. This accuracy would not be possible by using only the auto or cross ambiguity functions in isolation for prediction. The proposed metric can help select better waveforms for multi-user sonars.