A sidelobe reduction technique for enhancing images of UWB sparse MIMO array

This paper addresses the problem of forming high quality images for an ultra-wideband sparse MIMO array in short range applications. The proposed technique uses the prior knowledge of the point spread function of the sparse array to iteratively reduce the side/grating lobes from the initially formed imagery. Numerical simulation results of both isolated and distributed target scenarios show significant reduction of sidelobe level and target break-up, which leads to increase of dynamic range of the imaging system. Experimental results with a sparse linear array further verify the potential of the proposed technique in practical applications.