Optimal Design of Group Orthogonal Phase-Coded Waveforms for MIMO Radar

Digital radio frequency memory (DRFM) has emerged as an advanced technique to achieve a range of jamming signals, due to its capability to intercept waveforms within a short time. multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars can transmit agile orthogonal waveform sets for different pulses to combat DRFM-based jamming, where any two groups of waveform sets are also orthogonal. In this article, a group orthogonal waveform optimal design model is formulated in order to combat DRFM-based jamming by flexibly designing waveforms for MIMO radars. Aiming at balancing the intra- and intergroup orthogonal performances, the objective function is defined as the weighted sum of the intra- and intergroup orthogonal performance metrics. To solve the formulated model, in this article, a group orthogonal waveform design algorithm is proposed. Based on a primal-dual-type method and proper relaxations, the proposed algorithm transforms the original problem into a series of simple subproblems. Numerical results demonstrate that the obtained group orthogonal waveforms have the ability to flexibly suppress DRFM-based deceptive jamming, which is not achievable using p-majorization–minimization (p-MM) and primal-dual, two of the most advanced orthogonal waveform design algorithms.