A Cylindrical Antenna Array for MIMO Radar Applications

Presenter Information

Mohammad Abdalla, Minnesota State University - Mankato

Location

CSU 203

Start Date

21-4-2014 11:05 AM

End Date

21-4-2014 12:05 PM

Student's Major

Electrical and Computer Engineering and Technology

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Xuanhui Wu

Mentor's Email Address

xuanhui.wu@mnsu.edu

Mentor's Department

Electrical and Computer Engineering and Technology

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

Multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar is a recently proposed concept where the transmitted waveforms are different for each antenna element, and is carefully designed in order to improve the estimation, detection or tracking performance. This research introduces a cylindrical antenna array that adopts the MIMO antenna concept. It is able to achieve higher directivity, narrower beam, and lower side lobe levels so that the estimation and detection accuracy will be improved. The antenna array consists of several linear sub-arrays which are arranged along a cylindrical surface. Each sub-array has four suspended fat dipoles which are fed by a microstrip power divider. The fat dipole antenna is carefully designed and optimized using complex software packages which are based on full-wave analyses. The simulation of the entire antenna structure is also performed. The antenna array adopts a cylindrical arrangement of all the sub-arrays in order to achieve a 360 degree electrical scanning and avoid the response lag caused by a mechanical motor used in the traditional radar. Such radar provides more reliability and an instant response. Each sub-array works simultaneously with and independently to the other sub-arrays such that more degree of freedom can be exploited for estimation and detection.