MIMO Radar Waveform Design for Simultaneous Space–Time–Doppler Domain Optimization: Framework and Implementation

Waveform design has become an attractive topic in the field of colocated multiple-input–multiple-output (MIMO) radar that allows antennas to transmit different waveforms. Waveform properties of MIMO radar in space, time, and Doppler domains determine the performances of resource utilization, interference suppression, and moving target detection. Therefore, simultaneous optimization of multidomain properties through waveform design is significant to improve the performance of MIMO radar. In this article, a novel MIMO radar waveform design framework that constrains the beampattern while maximizing the similarity between the designed and desired waveforms is proposed for simultaneous space–time–Doppler domain optimization. To solve the resulting multiconstraint nonconvex problem, an efficient beampattern control and similarity maximization (BCSM) algorithm is developed and its convergence is demonstrated. In particular, the coupling problem due to the similarity constraint is handled by transforming the number domain and introducing the proximal algorithm. While reducing the target distortion in the main-lobe region and interference in the sidelobe region, the proposed method can also maximize the similarity of MIMO transmit waveforms. Numerical simulation results, apart from verifying that the proposed method outperforms existing methods in space–time–Doppler domain, also illustrate the robustness of the proposed method in terms of main-lobe width and desired peak sidelobe level (PSL).