Cramer-Rao bounds for estimating range, velocity, and direction with an active array

Abstract

We derive Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) expressions for the range (time delay), velocity (Doppler shift), and direction of a point target using an active radar or sonar array. First, general CRB expressions are derived for a narrowband signal and array model and a space-time separable noise model that allows both spatial and temporal correlation. We discuss the relationship between the CRB and ambiguity function for this model. Then, we specialize our CRB results to the case of temporally white noise and the practically important signal shape of a linear frequency modulated (chirp) pulse sequence. We compute the CRB for a three-dimensional (3-D) array with isotropic sensors in spatially white noise and show that it is a function of the array geometry only through the "moments of inertia" of the array. The volume of the confidence region for the target's location is proposed as a measure of accuracy. For this measure, we show that the highest (and lowest) target location accuracy is achieved if the target lies along one of the principal axes of inertia of the array. Finally, we compare the location accuracies of several array geometries.