Two-dimensional OAM radar imaging using uniform circular antenna arrays

The vortex radio wave carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) can potentially be exploited to achieve azimuthal super-resolution for target identification and radar imaging realms. A two-dimensional (2D) imaging method for OAM-based radar is presented in this paper. Based on the incrementally phased uniform circular antenna (UCA) arrays, the generation method and the echo signal model of OAM beams for radar imaging are established firstly. Subsequently, the multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm is carried out to realize the 2D joint detection of the multi-target in the elevation and azimuth domain. Compared with the existing OAM-based radar target azimuth imaging, this proposed method can readily achieve 2D joint imaging of target’s elevation and azimuth simultaneously without increasing the cost of hardware. The work and results provide suggestions to the design of OAM-based 2D radar systems.