OFDM Chirp Waveform Design Based on Imitating the Time–Frequency Structure of NLFM for Low Correlation Interference in MIMO Radar

The orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) chirp signal has its special merits of high-range resolution by exploiting a full bandwidth as multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radar signal. After simulation, there are some high peaks in the autocorrelation function and cross correlation function of conventional OFDM chirp signals, which may increase the correlation interference and reduce the detection performance of MIMO radar signal. This letter proposes to reduce the autocorrelation sidelobe peak (ASP) of OFDM chirp signal by subsection imitating the nonlinear frequency modulation (NLFM) signal's time-frequency structure. Since a suitable difference should be made between the subchirp rates and subchirp carrier frequencies of each of the two designed OFDM chirp signals for reducing the cross correlation peaks (CP), the imitated NLFM waveforms' design problem is solved by the proposed optimized method. At last, subchirps of the designed signals are coded by a group of optimized codes. The simulation shows the designed OFDM chirp signals have lower ASP and CP than the conventional ones and referenced previous OFDM signals, and their ASP decreases as the number of subchirps increases.