Key Performance Indicators for System Analysis of MIMO Radars with Widely Separated Antennas

In this paper, the concept of information diversity in both the space and frequency domains is investigated and key performance indicators (KPIs) are proposed and evaluated to characterize the effects that information diversity has on centralized Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars with widely separated antennas. To give a better description of the defined KPIs, numerical simulations are carried out, varying the operative conditions and design parameters, such as the number of employed radar nodes, their relative geometry, and the employed carrier frequencies. Thus, on one hand, KPIs are primarily aimed at assessing the capabilities of MIMO radars in detecting and resolving closely spaced targets, as well as in suppressing the sidelobes rising in the MIMO ambiguity function. On the other hand, the proposed methodology could reveal precious for the design of the optimum system configuration.