Coherent FDA Radar: Transmitter and Receiver Design and Analysis

The combination of frequency diverse array (FDA) radar technology with multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) radar architecture and waveform diversity techniques potentially promises a high integration gain with respect to conventional phased-array (PA) radars. In this article, we propose an approach to the design of the transmitter and receiver of a coherent FDA (C-FDA) radar that enables it to perform the demodulation with spectral overlapping due to the small frequency offsets. To this purpose, we derive the generalized space-time-range signal model and prove that the proposed C-FDA radar has a higher coherent array gain than a PA radar, and at the same time, it effectively resolves the secondary range-ambiguous problem in FDA-MIMO radar, allowing for mainlobe interference suppression and range-ambiguous clutter suppression. Numerical results prove the effectiveness of the proposed C-FDA radar in terms of antiinterference and anticlutter capabilities over conventional radars.