Optimized Virtual Antenna Array of Wideband Narrow Beam MIMO System for Overlapped Virtual Elements

This paper presents a novel process of creating an optimized virtual array for a Multi-Input, Multi-Output (MIMO) antenna array. It has been shown that MIMO radars yield increased range and angular resolution as compared to non-MIMO phased array radars. This is due, in part, to the increased aperture size created from the MIMO virtual array. It is known that for certain linear phased array antenna geometries/layouts that antenna elements can become overrepresented in the resultant MIMO virtual array. Current literature pertaining to the generation of an optimized MIMO antenna virtual array has not been presented for overrepresented antenna configurations. This paper presents the general concept of MIMO radar, overrepresented MIMO array configurations and the processing problems that result. The proposed solution for this result is discussed.