Hopped-frequency waveform design for optimal detection in spectral congested environment

Abstract

In this paper, we suggest the hopper-frequency (HopF) waveform for cognitive probing in spectral congested environment. Similar with stepped-frequency (SF) waveform, HopF waveform is very easy for implementation and processing. Besides, it also has the necessary degree of freedom (DOF) to achieve high spectrum efficiency and to suppress range sidelobes, thanks to its very flexible carriers. In this paper, echo of HopF waveform is analyzed and the associated signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain and correlation output under different filtering schemes are deduced under assumption that the interference spectrum is known. The cognition of HopF waveform is then achieved by optimizing the range correlation sidelobes with SNR constraint. Design examples and simulated processing results are reported to validate the proposed approach and illustrate how the HopF waveforms work in spectral congested environment.