Dual-Function MIMO Radar-Communications via Group Frequency Hopping Code Selection and PSK Modulation

Abstract

The dual-function radar communication (DFRC) system is an important means to alleviate spectrum congestion. In this paper, we propose an information-embedding DFRC scheme through combining group frequency hopping (FH) code selection with phase-shift keying (PSK) modulation. Concretely, in each radar sub-pulse, first, all the FH codes are grouped and allocated to each antenna in turn. In order to make the distribution of FH codes in one antenna be more uniform, the allocation pattern between groups and transmit antennas performs cyclic shift from one sub-pulse to another. Second, each transmit antenna selects one active FH code from the allocated group according to the transmitted communication symbols. Third, given the FH code per antenna, the FH signal is further modulated by PSK to convey additional information. Moreover, a low-complexity two-stage method is presented to decode the FH code and PSK symbol separately. Simulation results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed information-embedding scheme.