Coherent Radar Target Detection With In-Band Cyclostationary Wireless Interference

Spectral congestion necessitates the in-band operation or the spectrum-sharing of legacy radar and communication systems. Since these systems operate in the same band in spectrum-sharing mode, they interfere with one another. To address this problem from the radar’s perspective, this paper considers the coherent detection of target-reflected radar signals in the presence of interference from an in-band cyclostationary digital modulated wireless communication signal. Three different cases of target-reflected radar signals, namely, deterministic signals, signals with random phase, and completely random signals, are considered in this paper. The optimum detection rules are derived for these three cases and the corresponding receiver structures for the equalization of the interfering signal are presented. Sub-optimum detection structures are also derived with the assumption that the in-band interference is a white stationary time-invariant Gaussian process. Further, considering the equalization, modified CFAR receiver structures are also presented. By considering the mathematical models for cyclostationary or periodic in-band interference, the performances of the optimum, sub-optimum detectors, and modified CFAR detectors are quantified analytically in terms of detection probability and false alarm probability, and the resulting receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves are analyzed as a function of the signal-to-interference ratio. It is demonstrated that improper equalization of the interfering signal significantly affects the performance of the optimum detector and this impact is analyzed in detail. As spectrum-sharing becomes more prevalent due to spectrum congestion, the proposed optimal, sub-optimal, and modified CFAR detection rules and receiver structures can be incorporated into existing systems with substantial savings.