Low latency digital beamforming radar using aperture coding

A binary phase shift keying, space time coding approach to digital beamforming radar is considered for low latency estimation of range, velocity, and bearing angles of scatterers. Scattering information from all angles within the field of view is gathered during a single range/velocity acquisition and subsequent processing produces a range/velocity matrix for each beam direction. This coded aperture radar (CAR) approach provides range, velocity, and bearing angle estimates with low latency and requires only a single transceiver. These advantages are accompanied by a decrease in SNR as compared to conventional phased array and digital beamforming radars due to the fact that CAR receives less total energy. Furthermore, obtaining a sufficient number of measurements within an acquisition period to provide unambiguous estimation for a large number of bins may be impractical. Utilizing a reduced measurement set gives rise to "residual ambiguity," whose level is shown to be proportional to total received energy.