Location algorithms for moving target in non‐coherent distributed multiple‐input multiple‐output radar systems

Abstract

In this study, for the problem of estimating the location and speed of a moving target in the non‐coherent multiple‐input multiple‐output (MIMO) radar systems with widely separated antennas, the authors propose two new methods, in which the parameters used are the joint of bearing, elevation, frequency‐of‐arrival (FOA) and time‐of‐arrival (TOA). The two proposed methods are based on non‐coherent MIMO radar systems, but method 1 centralises all measuring parameters in one linear equation and processes together, while method 2 divides the measurements into several groups according to the different transmitter–receiver pairs. In this study, the authors assume that bearing, elevation, FOA and TOA parameters have already been measured by a preprocessing algorithm. For the both methods, an initial guess is acquired through a best linear unbiased estimator. Then for method 1, a more explicit solution can be acquired by employing a maximum likelihood estimator for decorrelation, while the method 2 applies maximum likelihood estimation of a first‐order Taylor expansion for a better solution. The simulations show that these two methods are effective and both of them can attain to Cramér–Rao lower bound at sufficiently moderate noise conditions.