Hybrid Beam-Steering OFDM-MIMO Radar: High 3-D Resolution With Reduced Channel Count

We report on the realization of a multichannel imaging radar that achieves uniform 2-D cross-range resolution by means of a linear array of a special form of leaky-wave antennas. The presented aperture concept enables a tradeoff between the available range resolution and a reduction in the number of channels required for a given angular resolution. The antenna front end is integrated within a multichannel radar based on stepped-carrier orthogonal frequency-division modulation, and the advantages and challenges specific to this combination are analyzed with respect to signal processing and a newly developed calibration routine. The system concept is fully implemented and verified in the form of a mobile demonstrator capable of soft real-time 3-D processing. By combining radio frequency (RF) components operating in the <tex-math notation="LaTeX">W </tex-math> -band (85–105 GHz) with the presented aperture, a 3-D resolution of less than <tex-math notation="LaTeX">1.5^∘ × 1.5^∘ × </tex-math> 15 cm is demonstrated using only eight transmitters and eight receivers.