Sparse Transmit Array Design for Dual-Function Radar Communications by Antenna Selection

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel approach to designing sparse transmit arrays for dual-function radar communication systems using antenna selection, enhancing angular resolution and reducing interference.

Contribution

It proposes a new sparse array design method for DFRC systems that improves resolution and interference suppression by leveraging antenna selection and array configuration.

Findings

Sparse arrays improve angular resolution in DFRC systems.

Array configuration as a spatial DoF helps suppress cross-interference.

Simulation results validate the effectiveness of the proposed design.

Abstract

Dual-function radar communications (DFRC) systems have recently been proposed to enable the coexistence of radar and wireless communications, which in turn alleviates the increased spectrum congestion crisis. In this paper, we consider the problem of sparse transmit array design for DFRC systems by antenna selection where same or different antennas are assigned to different functions. We consider three different types of DFRC systems which implement different simultaneous beamformers associated with single and different sparse arrays with shared aperture. We utilize the array configuration as an additional spatial degree of freedom (DoF) to suppress the cross-interference and facilitate the cohabitation of the two system functions. It is shown that the use of sparse arrays adds to improved angular resolution with well-controlled sidelobes on DFRC system paradigm. The utilization of sparse arrays in DFRC systems is validated using simulation examples.