Assessment of Constant Envelope OFDM as a Class of Random FM Radar Waveforms

Random FM radar waveforms designed to possess a desirable spectral shape (on average) have been experimentally demonstrated for an increasing number of applications. However, the benefits of these waveforms can be offset by the computational cost of performing real-time spectral-shaping optimization for each random initial waveform. Here the constant-envelope orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CE-OFDM) framework from communications is examined as a means to generate random FM radar waveforms. This scheme is attractive from a radar perspective because it inherently provides useful spectrum shaping without the need for optimization, thereby realizing an effective form of random FM that can be produced in real-time on systems with modest computational resources, in addition to the obvious communication capability. Radar performance is assessed in simulation and using free-space experimental measurements.