Theoretical Analysis of Multi-Carrier Agile Phased Array Radar

Modern radar systems are expected to operate reliably in congested environments under cost and power constraints. A recent technology for realizing such systems is frequency agile radar (FAR), which transmits narrowband pulses in a frequency hopping manner. To enhance the target recovery performance of FAR in complex electromagnetic environments, and particularly, its range-Doppler recovery performance, multi-Carrier AgilE phaSed Array Radar (CAESAR) was proposed. CAESAR extends FAR to multi-carrier waveforms while introducing the notion of spatial agility. In this paper, we theoretically analyze the range-Doppler recovery capabilities of CAESAR. Particularly, we derive conditions which guarantee accurate reconstruction of these range-Doppler parameters. These conditions indicate that by increasing the number of frequencies transmitted in each pulse, CAESAR improves performance over conventional FAR, especially in complex environments where some radar measurements are severely corrupted by interference.