Estimating range, velocity, and direction with a radar array

Abstract

We present maximum likelihood (ML) methods for active estimation of range (time delay), velocity (Doppler shift), and direction of a point target with a radar array in spatially correlated noise with unknown covariance. We consider structured and unstructured array response models and compute the Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) for the time delay, Doppler shift, and direction of arrival. We derive ambiguity functions for the above models and discuss the relationship between identifiability, ambiguity, and the Fisher information matrix.