Comparison of Correlation-Based OFDM Radar Receivers

Various correlation-based receivers have been proposed in passive bistatic and active monostatic radar exploiting orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing communications signals, but too little has been dedicated to establishing their relations and advantages over each other. Accordingly, this article provides an analytical comparison of the common filters in such waveform sharing scenarios, along with a performance analysis regarding three criteria: computational complexity, signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio, and resilience to ground clutter. The last two especially assess the possible detrimental effects of the random sidelobes (or pedestal) induced by the data symbols in the range-Doppler map. Although simulations show that none of the filters performs unanimously better, the ones employing circular correlations globally evidence attractive results.