MATHEMATICAL PROBLEMS IN ENGINEERING 1
DOA Estimation for Multiple Targets in MIMO
Radar With Non-Orthogonal Signals
Zhenxin Cao, Peng Chen, Zhimin Chen, and Yi Jin
Abstract—This paper addresses the direction of arrival (DOA)
estimation problem in the colocated multi-input multi-output
(MIMO) radar with non-orthogonal signals. The maximum
number of targets that can be estimated is theoretically derived as
rank {R
s
} N , where N denotes the number of receiving antennas
and R
s
is the cross-correlation matrix of the transmitted signals.
Therefore, with the rank-deficient cross-correlation matrix, the
maximum number that can be estimated is less than the radar
with orthogonal signals. Then, a multiple signal classification
(MUSIC)-based algorithm is given for the non-orthogonal signals.
Furthermore, the DOA estimation performance is also theoret-
ically analyzed by the Carm
´
er-Rao lower bound. Simulation
results show that the non-orthogonality degrades the DOA
estimation performance only in the scenario with the rank-
deficient cross-correlation matrix.
Index Terms—DOA estimation, multiple targets, MIMO radar,
non-orthogonal signals.
I. INTRODUCTION
I
N the multi-input multi-output (MIMO) radar system [1],
the waveform diversity can be used to improve the target
detection and estimation performance [2]–[6]. In the existing
works, many methods have been proposed to estimate the
target direction of arrival (DOA). For example, in the colocated
MIMO radar system, a reduced-dimension transformation is
used to reduce the complexity in the DOA estimation based
on the estimation of signal parameters via rotational invariance
technique (ESPRIT) [7]; a computationally efficient DOA
estimation algorithm is given for the monostatic MIMO radar
based on the covariance matrix reconstruction in [8]; a joint
DOA and direction of departure (DOD) estimation method
based on ESPRIT is proposed in [9]. Additionally, in the
co-prime MIMO radar system, a reduced-dimension multiple
signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm is proposed [10] for
both DOA and DOD estimation; a combined unitary ESPRIT-
based algorithm is given for the DOA estimation [11]. In the
bistatic MIMO radar system, a joint DOD and DOA estimation
method is also proposed in the scenario with an unknown
spatially correlated noise [12].
In the MIMO radar systems, most literatures about the
DOA estimation assume that the transmitted waveforms are
all orthogonal [13]–[18]. However, in the practical radar sys-
tems, it is difficult to generate the orthogonal signals [19,20].
Peng Chen is the corresponding author of the paper. Zhenx-
ing Cao and Peng Chen are with the State Key Laboratory of Mil-
limeter Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China (email:
{caozx,chenpengdsp}@seu.edu.cn).
Zhimin Chen is with the School of Electronic and Information, Shanghai
Dianji University, Shanghai 201306, China (email: chenzm@sdju.edu.cn).
Y. Jin is with Xi’an branch of China Academy of Space Technology, Xi’an
710100, China (email: john.0216@163.com).
Therefore, the traditional DOA estimation methods and results
with the orthogonal signals must be also modified. Moreover,
to the best of our knowledge, the theoretical analysis about
the non-orthogonal waveforms in the MIMO radar systems
has not yet been addressed in literatures.
In this paper, the DOA estimation problem for multiple
targets is addressed, and the system model of MIMO radar
with non-orthogonal signals is given. Then, the maximum
number of targets can be estimated is derived according to the
cross-correlation matrix of transmitted signals, and a MUSIC
algorithm for the non-orthogonal signals is also proposed.
Furthermore, the Carm
´
er-Rao lower bound (CRLB) of DOA
estimation with the non-orthogonal signals is also theoretically
derived, and shows that the estimation performance with non-
orthogonal signals is only degraded in the scenario with rank-
deficient cross-correlation matrix.
Notations: 1
N
stands for a N × 1 vector with all entries
being 1. I
N
denotes an N × N identity matrix. E {·} denotes
the expectation operation. CN (a, B) denotes the complex
Gaussian distribution with the mean being a and the variance
matrix being B. k · k
2
, ⊗, , Tr {·}, vec {·}, (·)
T
and (·)
H
denote the `
2
norm, the Kronecker product, the Hadamard
product, the trace of a matrix, the vectorization of a matrix,
the matrix transpose and the Hermitian transpose, respectively.
II. SYSTEM MODEL
In this paper, the colocated MIMO radar [6,21] is adopted,
where the antenna numbers of transmitter and receiver are
M and N , respectively. We consider the DOA estimation
problem for K far-field targets. Then, during the p-th pulse
(p = 0, 1, . . . , P − 1), the signal in the n-th receiving antenna
(n = 0, 1, . . . , N − 1) can be expressed as
r
n
(p, t) =
M−1
X
m=0
K−1
X
k=0
α
k
(p)s
m
(t)e
−j
2π
λ
(md
T
+nd
R
) cos θ
k
+ w
n
(p, t), (1)
where
θ , (θ
0
, . . . , θ
K−1
)
T
, (2)
θ
k
denotes the DOA of the k-th target (k = 0, 1, . . . , K − 1),
s
m
(t) denotes the waveform in the m-th transmitting antenna
(m = 0, 1, . . . , M − 1), and w
n
(p, t) denotes the additive
white Gaussian noise (AWGN) with the variance being σ
2
n
.
λ denotes the wavelength of the transmitted waveform. d
T
and d
R
denote the antenna spacing in transmitter and receiver,
respectively. α
k
(p) denotes the fading coefficient of the k-th