Joint Radar Amplifier Circuit and Waveform Optimization for Ambiguity Function, Power-Added Efficiency, and Spectral Compliance

Abstract

Future radar transmitters must be adaptive and reconfigurable in real time to be able to share spectrum dynamically with wireless communications. We demonstrate the joint, back-and-forth optimization of the radar transmitter waveform and circuitry in a combined algorithm that can be used for real-time reconfiguration. While previously developed methods consider the waveform and circuit separately, resulting in emphasis on one of the criteria [ambiguity function (AF) or power efficiency], we show that the joint optimization of the circuit and waveform allows both the radar AF and circuit power-added efficiency (PAE) criteria to be gradually improved during the optimization. Measurement results are presented and analyzed to assess the convergence of the PAE and AF least-squares error, as compared to the AF template during an optimization under spectral mask and peak-to-average power ratio constraints.