Time Reversal in Multiple-Input Multiple-Output Radar

Abstract

Time reversal explores the rich scattering in a multipath environment to achieve high target detectability. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar is an emerging active sensing technology that uses diverse waveforms transmitted from widely spaced antennas to achieve increased target sensitivity when compared to standard phased arrays. In this paper, we combine MIMO radar with time reversal to automatically match waveforms to a scattering channel and further improve the performance of radar detection. We establish a radar target model in multipath rich environments and develop likelihood ratio tests for the proposed time-reversal MIMO radar (TR-MIMO). Numerical simulations demonstrate improved target detectability compared with the commonly used statistical MIMO strategy.