Sensor scheduling with waveform design for dynamic target tracking using MIMO radar

Abstract

Multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) radar systems have gained significant attention as they can enhance target detection, identification and parameter estimation performance. In this paper, we consider the problem of optimizing the target tracking performance of a widely-separated MIMO radar system by scheduling the transmitter sensors and adaptively designing their waveforms. Specifically, for a tracking scenario consisting of a large number of MIMO radars, we propose: (a) a transmitter scheduling algorithm to achieve tracking performance gains based on resource constraints; and (b) an adaptive waveform optimization algorithm that further improves tracking performance. Under an ideal receiver assumption, we evaluate the predicted tracking mean-squared error using the derived Crame¿r-Rao lower bound (CRLB) on the estimation of the target states. The scheduling algorithm is then formulated as a mixed boolean-convex optimization problem to minimize the CRLB. The optimum waveform parameters are adaptively obtained using sequential quadratic programming. The effectiveness of combining the MIMO radar technology with adaptive waveform design and sensor scheduling was demonstrated with simulations.