Dual-function radar-communications (DFRC) systems implement radar and communication functionalities on a single platform. Jointly designing these subsystems can lead to substantial gains in performance as well as size, cost, and power consumption. In this paper, we propose a DFRC system, which utilizes generalized spatial modulation (GSM) to realize coexisting radar and communications waveforms. Our proposed GSM-based scheme, referred to as spatial modulation based communication-radar (SpaCoR) system, allocates antenna elements among the subsystems based on the transmitted message, thus achieving increased communication rates by embedding additional data bits in the antenna selection. We formulate the resulting signal models, and present a dedicated radar processing scheme. To evaluate the radar performance, we characterize the statistical properties of the transmit beam pattern. Then, we present a hardware prototype of the proposed DFRC system, demonstrating the feasibility of the scheme. Our results show that the proposed GSM system achieves improved communication performance compared to techniques utilizing fixed allocations operating at the same data rate. For the radar subsystem, our experiments show that the spatial agility induced by the GSM transmission improves the angular resolution and reduces the sidelobe level in the transmit beam pattern compared to using fixed antenna allocations.
Rapid beam alignment is required to support high gain millimeter wave (mmW) communication links between a base station (BS) and mobile users (MU). The standard IEEE 802.11ad protocol enables beam alignment at the BS and MU through a lengthy beam training procedure accomplished through additional packet overhead. However, this results in reduced latency and throughput. Auxiliary radar functionality embedded within the communication protocol has been proposed in prior literature to enable rapid beam alignment of communication beams without the requirement of channel overheads. In this work, we p…
In this paper we report the first airborne experiments of sparse microwave imaging, conducted in September 2013 and May 2014, using our prototype sparse microwave imaging radar system. This is the first reported imaging radar system and airborne experiment that specially designed for sparse microwave imaging. Sparse microwave imaging is a novel concept of radar imaging, it is mainly the combination of traditional radar imaging technology and newly developed sparse signal processing theory, achieving benefits in both improving the imaging quality of current microwave imaging systems and designi…
This paper develops an efficient index modulation (IM) approach for the joint radar-communication (JRC) system based on a multi-carrier multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar. The communication information is embedded into the transmitted radar pulses by selecting the corresponding indices of the carrier frequencies and antenna allocations, providing two degrees of freedom. Our contribution involves the development of a novel codebook based minimum Euclidean distance (MED) maximization and a constellation randomization pre-scaling (CRPS) scheme for efficient IM-JRC transmission. It can be…
Dual function radar communications (DFRC) systems are attractive technologies for autonomous vehicles, which utilize electromagnetic waves to constantly sense the environment while simultaneously communicating with neighbouring devices. An emerging approach to implement DFRC systems is to embed information in radar waveforms via index modulation (IM). Implementation of DFRC schemes in vehicular systems gives rise to strict constraints in terms of cost, power efficiency, and hardware complexity. In this paper, we extend IM-based DFRC systems to utilize sparse arrays and frequency modulated cont…
Motivated by automotive applications, we consider joint radar sensing and data communication for a system operating at millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands, where a Base Station (BS) is equipped with a co-located radar receiver and sends data using the Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) modulation format. We consider two distinct modes of operation. In Discovery mode, a single common data stream is broadcast over a wide angular sector. The radar receiver must detect the presence of not yet acquired targets and perform coarse estimation of their parameters (angle of arrival, range, and …
The automatic classification of radar waveform is a fundamental technique in electronic countermeasures (ECM).Recent supervised deep learning-based methods have achieved great success in a such classification task.However, those methods require enough labeled samples to work properly and in many circumstances, it is not available.To tackle this problem, in this paper, we propose a three-stages deep radar waveform clustering(DRSC) technique to automatically group the received signal samples without labels.Firstly, a pretext model is trained in a self-supervised way with the help of several data…
A novel dual-function radar communication (DFRC) system is proposed, that achieves high target resolution and high communication rate. It consists of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar, where only a small number of antennas are active in each channel use. The probing waveforms are orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) type. The OFDM carriers are divided into two groups, one that is used by the active antennas in a shared fashion, and another one, where each subcarrier is assigned to an active antenna in an exclusive fashion (private subcarriers). Target estimation is car…
Detection and classification of radars based on pulses they transmit is an important application in electronic warfare systems. In this work, we propose a novel deep-learning based technique that automatically recognizes intra-pulse modulation types of radar signals. Re-assigned spectrogram of measured radar signal and detected outliers of its instantaneous phases filtered by a special function are used for training multiple convolutional neural networks. Automatically extracted features from the networks are fused to distinguish frequency and phase modulated signals. Simulation results show t…
New generation of radar systems will need to coexist with other radio frequency (RF) systems, anticipating their behavior and reacting appropriately to avoid interference. In light of this requirement, this paper designs, implements, and evaluates the performance of phase-only sequences (with constant power) for intelligent spectrum utilization using the custom built cognitive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) radar prototype. The proposed transmit waveforms avoid the frequency bands occupied by narrowband interferers or communication links, while simultaneously have a small cross-correlat…
We present a cognitive prototype that demonstrates a colocated, frequency-division-multiplexed, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar which implements both temporal and spatial sub-Nyquist sampling. The signal is sampled and recovered via the Xampling framework. Cognition is due to the fact that the transmitter adapts its signal spectrum by emitting only those subbands that the receiver samples and processes. Real-time experiments demonstrate sub-Nyquist MIMO recovery of target scenes with 87.5% spatio-temporal bandwidth reduction and signal-to-noise-ratio of -10 dB.
We have built and evaluated a prototype quantum radar, which we call a quantum two-mode squeezing radar (QTMS radar), in the laboratory. It operates solely at microwave frequencies; there is no downconversion from optical frequencies. Because the signal generation process relies on quantum mechanical principles, the system is considered to contain a quantum-enhanced radar transmitter. This transmitter generates a pair of entangled microwave signals and transmits one of them through free space, where the signal is measured using a simple and rudimentary receiver. At the heart of the transmitter…
In this paper, we address the problem of target detection in passive multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar networks. A generalized likelihood ratio test is derived, assuming prior knowledge of the signal format used in the non-cooperative transmit stations. We consider scenarios in which the unknown transmitted signal uses either a linear digital modulation scheme or the Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) modulation scheme. These digital modulation schemes are used in popular standards including Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Digital Video Broadcasting-Terrestrial (…
Recently, huge attention is attracted to the concept of integrating communication and radar missions within the same platform. Joint radar-communications (JRC) system gives an important opportunity to reduce spectrum usage and product cost while doing concurrent operation, as target sensing via radar processing and establishing communication links. A JRC-capable coherent MIMO radar system have been proposed recently in the literature. Several methods are introduced to reach dual goal as a notable null level towards the direction of interest of the radar and MIMO radar waveform orthogonality. D…
Joint radar-communication (JRC) waveform can be used for simultaneous radar detection and communication in the same frequency band. However, radar detection processing requires the prior knowledge of the waveform including the embedded information for matched filtering. To remove this requirement, we propose a unimodular JRC waveform based on composite modulation where the internal modulation embeds information by mapping the bit sequence to different orthogonal signals, and the external modulation performs phase modulation on the internal waveform to satisfy the demand of detection. By adjust…
In this paper, we study the performance of spatial modulation based on reconfigurable antennas. Two main contributions are provided. We introduce an analytical framework to compute the error probability, which is shown to be accurate and useful for system optimization. We design and implement the prototype of a reconfigurable antenna that is specifically designed for application to spatial modulation, and that provides multiple radiation patterns that are used to encode the information bits. By using the measured antenna radiation patterns, we show that spatial modulation based on reconfigurab…
A cost-effective millimeter-wave (MMW) joint radar-communication (JRC) system with super resolution is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, using optical heterodyne up-conversion and self-coherent detection down-conversion techniques. The point lies in the designed coherent dual-band constant envelope linear frequency modulation-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (LFM-OFDM) signal with opposite phase modulation indexes for the JRC system. Then the self-coherent detection, as a simple and low-cost means, is accordingly facilitated for both de-chirping of MMW radar and frequency dow…
Dual-function radar communication (DFRC) systems implement both sensing and communication using the same hardware. Such schemes are often more efficient in terms of size, power, and cost, over using distinct radar and communication systems. Since these functionalities share resources such as spectrum, power, and antennas, DFRC methods typically entail some degradation in both radar and communication performance. In this work we propose a DFRC scheme based on the carrier agile phased array radar (CAESAR), which combines frequency and spatial agility. The proposed DFRC system, referred to as mul…
Motivated by future automotive applications, we study some joint radar target detection and parameter estimation problems where the transmitter, equipped with a mono-static MIMO radar, wishes to detect multiple targets and then estimate their respective parameters, while simultaneously communicating information data using orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation. Assuming that the number of radio frequency chains is smaller than the number of antennas over the mmWave frequency band, we design hybrid digital-analog beamforming at the radar transmitter adapted to different operating pha…
The dual-functional radar-communication (DFRC) system is an attractive technique, since it can support both wireless communications and radar by a unified hardware platform with real-time cooperation. Considering the appealing feature of multiple beams, this paper proposes a precoding scheme that simultaneously support multiuser transmission and target detection, with an integrated continuous phase modulation (CPM) and linear frequency modulation (LFM) signal, based on the designed dual mode framework. Similarly to the conception of communication rate, this paper defines radar rate to unify th…
In this paper, we propose a novel integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) transmission framework based on the spatially-spread orthogonal time frequency space (SS-OTFS) modulation by considering the fact that communication channel strengths cannot be directly obtained from radar sensing. We first propose the concept of SS-OTFS modulation, where the key novelty is the angular domain discretization enabled by the spatial-spreading/de-spreading. This discretization gives rise to simple and insightful effective models for both radar sensing and communication, which result in simplified designs…
The previous chapters have discussed the canvas of joint radar-communications (JRC), highlighting the key approaches of radar-centric, communications-centric and dual-function radar-communications systems. Several signal processing and related aspects enabling these approaches including waveform design, resource allocation, privacy and security, and intelligent surfaces have been elaborated in detail. These topics offer comprehensive theoretical guarantees and algorithms. However, they are largely based on theoretical models. A hardware validation of these techniques would lend credence to the…
In this study, we propose index modulation (IM) with circularly-shifted chirps (CSCs) (CSC-IM) for dual-function radar and communication (DFRC) systems. The proposed scheme encodes the information bits with the CSC indices and the phase-shift keying (PSK) symbols. It allows the receiver to exploit the frequency selectivity naturally in fading channels by combining IM and wideband CSCs. It also leverages the fact that a CSC is a constant-envelope signal to achieve a controllable peak-to-mean envelope power ratio (PMEPR). For radar functionality, CSC-IM maintains the good autocorrelation (AC) pr…
We study security solutions for dual-functional radar communication (DFRC) systems, which detect the radar target and communicate with downlink cellular users in millimeter-wave (mmWave) wireless networks simultaneously. Uniquely for such scenarios, the radar target is regarded as a potential eavesdropper which might surveil the information sent from the base station (BS) to communication users (CUs), that is carried by the radar probing signal. Transmit waveform and receive beamforming are jointly designed to maximize the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) of the radar under the s…
Delay alignment modulation (DAM) has been recently proposed to enable inter-symbol interference (ISI)-free single-carrier (SC) communication without relying on sophisticated channel equalization. The key idea of DAM is to pre-introduce deliberate symbol delays at the transmitter side, so that all multi-path signal components may arrive at the receiver simultaneously and be superimposed constructively, rather than causing the detrimental ISI. Compared to the classic orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) transmission, DAM has several appealing advantages, including low peak-to-averag…
Frequency-hopping (FH) joint radar-communications (JRC) can offer excellent security for integrated sensing and communication systems. However, existing JRC schemes mainly embed information using only the sub-pulse frequencies and hence the data rate is limited. In this paper, we propose to use both sub-pulse frequencies and durations for information modulation, leading to higher communication data rates. For information demodulation, we propose a novel scheme by using the time-frequency analysis (TFA) technique and a "you only look once" (YOLO)-based detection system. As such, our system does…
A photonics-assisted joint communication-radar system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated, by introducing a quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK)-sliced linearly frequency-modulated (LFM) signal. An LFM signal is carrier-suppressed single-sideband modulated onto the optical carrier in one dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DPMZM) of a dual-polarization dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (DPol-DPMZM). The other DPMZM of the DPol-DPMZM is biased as an IQ modulator to implement QPSK modulation on the optical carrier. The polarization orthogonal optical signals from the DPol-DPMZM are …
Motivated by future automotive applications, we study the joint target detection and parameter estimation problem using orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS), a digital modulation format robust to time-frequency selective channels. Assuming the transmitter is equipped with a mono-static MIMO radar, we propose an efficient maximum likelihood based approach to detect targets and estimate the corresponding delay, Doppler, and angle-of-arrival parameters. In order to reduce the computational complexity associated to the high-dimensional search, our scheme proceeds in two steps, i.e., target detec…
We consider a joint radar estimation and communication system using orthogonal time frequency space (OTFS) modulation. The scenario is motivated by vehicular applications where a vehicle equipped with a mono-static radar wishes to communicate data to its target receiver, while estimating parameters of interest related to this receiver. In a point-to-point communication setting over multi-path time-frequency selective channels, we study the joint radar and communication system from two perspectives, i.e., the radar estimation at the transmitter as well as the symbol detection at the receiver. F…
Dual-function radar-communication (DFRC) systems offer high spectral, hardware and power efficiency, as such are prime candidates for 6G wireless systems. DFRC systems use the same waveform for simultaneously probing the surroundings and communicating with other equipment. By exposing the communication information to potential targets, DFRC systems are vulnerable to eavesdropping. In this work, we propose to mitigate the problem by leveraging directional modulation (DM) enabled by a time-modulated array (TMA) that transmits OFDM waveforms. DM can scramble the signal in all directions except th…
Dual-Functional Radar-Communication (DFRC) systems have been investigated to manage the inter-system interference between radar and communication systems. However, the studies in literature often assume that the DFRC possesses perfect Channel State Information at the Transmitter (CSIT), which is an unrealistic assumption due to the inevitable CSIT errors in practical deployments. In this work, we aim to design a DFRC system under the practical assumption of partial CSIT. To achieve this, the proposed DFRC marries the capabilities of a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) radar with Rate-Split…
Enabled by the advancement in radio frequency technologies, the convergence of radar and communication systems becomes increasingly promising and is envisioned as a key feature of future 6G networks. Recently, the frequency-hopping (FH) MIMO radar is introduced to underlay dual-function radar-communication (DFRC) systems. Superior to many previous radar-centric DFRC designs, the symbol rate of FH-MIMO radar-based DFRC (FH-MIMO DFRC) can exceed the radar pulse repetition frequency. However, many practical issues, particularly those regarding effective data communications, are unexplored/unsolve…
Synthetic aperture laser radar has higher resolution, so requires higher modulated bandwidth. Because the data volume of chirp or pulse coding schemes is too large, it brings much pressure to data acquisition and data processing. So, we can use dechirp to reduce the amount of data. However, there is a seriously non-linear problem in phase modulation, which strictly prohibited the dechirp usage. Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, we propose a method based on Electro-Optic Modulators to achieve a large-bandwidth chirp signal. Meanwhile, give a method to resolve the seriously non-li…
