Detector Design for Distributed Multichannel Radar Sensors in Colored Interference Environments

In this paper, we present a generic signal model applicable to various distributed radar setups, encompassing both phased array (PA) and MIMO radar configurations. We consider a range of waveform modulation methods, including TDM, BPM, DDM, and fast time CDM. We devise a GLRT based detector for scenarios where the interference consists of colored noise plus a signal in a low-rank subspace and prove that the designed detector is CFAR. We demonstrate that when the CPI time is similar for the systems, the PA radar system exhibits better detection performance than MIMO, irrespective of the waveform modulation approach adopted. However, if the CPI time of the PA system is divided to the number of transmit waveforms utilized in the MIMO radar case (to account for the time needed for a PA radar to scan all angles), then in the presence of non-uniform interference, MIMO techniques, except TDM, surpass the performance of PA. Conversely, in cases of uniform interference, the performance of both MIMO techniques and PA are equivalent.