On intermittent OFDM transmitter saturation and radar system performance

Abstract

The effects of spectral crowding are becoming acutely problematic as new wireless systems are being deployed in adjacent bands to legacy systems. Current spectrum management practices seek to control and limit persistent out-of-band emissions, but fall short on addressing intermittent emissions. Such intermittent interference can be caused by the occasional saturation of a transmitting power amplifier, resulting in unintended emissions into adjacent bands. Such transmitter saturations are common for the high peak-to-average power waveforms commonly found in OFDM systems. This work seeks to quantify the performance degradation of a notional radar system in the face of intermittent interference falling in the radar's operating bandwidth. The results show a rise in the false alarm rate of the radar system in proportion to the saturation rate of the adjacent band system.