Deterministic Signal Processing Techniques for OFDM-Based Radar Sensing: An Overview (original) (raw)

In this manuscript, we analyze the most relevant classes of deterministic signal processing methods currently available for the detection and the estimation of multiple targets in a joint communication and sensing system employing orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. Our objective is offering a fair comparison of the available technical options in terms of required computational complexity and accuracy in both range and Doppler estimation. Our numerical results, obtained in various scenarios, evidence that distinct algorithms can achieve a substantially different accuracy-complexity trade-off. INDEX TERMS Dual-function radar-communication, frequency estimation, harmonic retrieval, joint communication and sensing, maximum likelihood estimation, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, radar processing, spectral analysis. I. INTRODUCTION In the last few years, increasing attention has been paid to the design of wireless systems able to perform both communication and radar functions, i.e. to accomplish joint communication and sensing (JCAS). Such systems make an efficient use of the available spectrum and offer significant benefits in terms of size, energy consumption, and cost, since they employ a single radio device for both communication and sensing functionalities. For these reasons, they are expected to play an important role in the field of future vehicular networks [1], [2], [3]. One of the waveforms currently being considered for its adoption in JCAS systems is orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) [4]. A huge technical literature is available about the signal processing techniques to be employed at both the transmit (TX) and receive (RX) sides of wireless communication systems exploiting this modulation format. On the contrary, limited research efforts have been devoted until now to the development of methods for target detection and estimation in OFDM-based JCAS systems. The currently The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and approving it for publication was Li Zhang.