Spectrum sensing for advanced radar performance

1. A spectrum sensing radar system comprising:

at least one computer processor configured to execute computer-executable instructions stored in a non-transitory computer memory, said computer-executable instructions comprising a plurality of modules including:

a spectrum power sensing module configured to:

receive electromagnetic signal powers in the ambient electromagnetic environment in a plurality of sub-frequencies over the entire operational frequency band of the radar system sensed by a radar transceiver of the radar system, and

generate a sensed power set comprising groups of one or more of said plurality of sub-frequencies, each group having a start and an end frequency and a measure of the interference power of the group; and

a multi-objective function module configured to:

receive said sensed power set from said spectrum power sensing module, and

perform analysis on various permutations of each received group and contiguous combinations of the received groups of sub-frequencies by;

calculating a signal plus noise ratio (SINR) for each of said permutations, which comprises a received power function of a received radar signal for each permutation divided by the measure of interference power for each permutation; and

calculating the bandwidth for each permutation;

determining, from the various permutations, the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system; and

generating and transmitting, to the radar transceiver, a radar transmit frequency set, a radar transmit power set, and a radar transmit bandwidth based on the determined optimal permutation.

2. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 1 , wherein, in determining the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system, said multi-objective function module is further configured to maximize a first objective function of said SINR and a second objective function of said bandwidth simultaneously for the permutation, subject to said first objective function being greater than a minimum SINR pre-determined boundary, and subject to said second objective function being greater than a minimum bandwidth pre-determined boundary.

3. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 2 , in determining the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system, said multi-objective function module is further configured to employ a weighted sum multi-objective optimization (WSMO) of the first and second objective functions.

4. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 1 , further comprising the radar transceiver, wherein said radar transceiver is configured to:

receive said radar transmit frequency set and said radar transmit bandwidth set from said multi-objective function module;

generate electromagnetic signals in accordance with said radar transmit frequency set, said radar transmit power set, and said radar transmit bandwidth set; and

receive reflections of said electromagnetic signals from said target.

5. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 1 , wherein upon said radar transceiver transmitting said electromagnetic signals, said spectrum power sensing module is further configured to:

repeat said sensing electromagnetic signal power in said plurality of sub-frequencies; and

generate a new sensed power set comprising new groups of one or more of said plurality of sub-frequencies, each group having a start and an end frequency and a measure of the interference power of the group.

6. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 5 , wherein upon said spectrum power sensing module generating said new sensed power set, said multi-objective function module is further configured to:

receive said new sensed power set from said spectrum power sensing module;

perform analysis on various new permutations of each new received group and contiguous combinations of the received new groups of sub-frequencies by recalculating the SINR and bandwidth for each of the new permutations;

determine, from the various new permutations, the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system; and

generate and transmit, to the radar transceiver, a new radar transmit frequency set, a new radar transmit power set, and a new radar transmit bandwidth set based on the new optimal permutation.

7. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 1 , wherein, in generating said sensed power set, the multi-objective function module is further configured to:

analyze the sensed electromagnetic signal powers for the plurality of sub-frequencies;

identify sub-frequencies of the sensed electromagnetic signal powers as either high or low power with respect to a predetermined power threshold; and

group any closely-spaced high sub-frequencies within a predetermined sub-bandwidth threshold as one high sub-frequency.

8. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 1 , wherein, in calculating the SINR, said received power function of the received radar signal further comprises a peak transmit power of the radar system multiplied by a gain of an antenna of said radar system, a wavelength of a carrier of said sub-frequency, and a radar cross-section of the target.

9. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 8 , wherein, in calculating the SINR, said received power function of the received radar signal further comprises a pulse width of said radar system multiplied by said wavelength of said carrier of said sub-frequency group or groups corresponding to the permutation.

10. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 9 , wherein, in calculating the SINR, said received power function of the received radar signal further comprises a number of pulses within a coherent processing interval of said radar system multiplied by said pulse width of said radar system, further multiplied by said bandwidth of said sub-frequency group or groups corresponding to the permutation.

11. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 10 , wherein, in calculating the SINR, said received power function of the received radar signal further comprises said bandwidth of said sub-frequency group or groups corresponding to the permutation divided by a range to a target.

12. The spectrum sensing radar system of claim 1 , wherein the received power of the received radar signal of the permutation is defined as follows:

P r (β i )= P t G 2 λ 2 σN p /[(4π) 3 R 4 ],

where P t is the peak transmit power of the radar system, G is the antenna gain, λ is the wavelength of the carrier frequency, σ is the radar cross-section of the target, N p is the number of pulses within a coherent processing interval, and R is the range to target.

13. A method of operating a spectrum sensing radar system, said method comprising:

sensing, by a radar transceiver of the radar system, electromagnetic signal powers in the ambient electromagnetic environment in a plurality of sub-frequencies over the entire operational frequency band of the radar system;

generating a sensed power set comprising groups of one or more of said plurality of sub-frequencies, each group having a start and an end frequency and a measure of the interference power of the group;

receiving said sensed power set from said spectrum power sensing module;

performing analysis on various permutations of each received group and contiguous combinations of the received groups of sub-frequencies by:

calculating a signal plus noise ratio (SINR) for each of said permutations, which comprises a received power function of a received radar signal for each permutation divided by the measure of interference power for each permutation; and

calculating the bandwidth for each permutation;

determining, from the various permutations, the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system; and

generating and transmitting, to the radar transceiver, a radar transmit frequency set, a radar transmit power set, and a radar transmit bandwidth based on the determined optimal permutation.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the received power of the received radar signal of the permutation is defined as follows:

P r (β i )= P t G 2 λ 2 σN p /[(4π) 3 R 4 ],

where P t is the peak transmit power of the radar system, G is the antenna gain, λ is the wavelength of the carrier frequency, σ is the radar cross-section of the target, N P is the number of pulses within a coherent processing interval, and R is the range to target.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein wherein determining the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system comprises maximizing a first objective function of said SINR and a second objective function of said bandwidth for the permutation simultaneously, subject to said first objective function being greater than a minimum SINR pre-determined boundary, and subject to said second objective function being greater than a minimum bandwidth pre-determined boundary.

16. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

receiving, at a radar transceiver of the radar system, said radar transmit frequency set, said radar transmit power set, and said radar transmit bandwidth set;

generating, using said radar transceiver, electromagnetic signals in accordance with said radar transmit frequency set, said radar transmit power set, and said radar transmit bandwidth set; and

receiving, using said radar transceiver, reflections of said electromagnetic signals from said target,

wherein upon said radar transceiver transmitting said electromagnetic signals, said method further comprising:

repeating, said sensing electromagnetic signal power in said plurality of sub-frequencies; and

generating, a new sensed power set comprising new groups of said plurality of sub-frequencies, each group having a start and an end frequency and a measure of the interference power of the group,

receiving said new sensed power set from said spectrum power sensing module;

performing analysis on various new permutations of each received new group and contiguous combinations of the received new groups of sub-frequencies by recalculating the SINR and bandwidth for each of the new permutations;

determining, from the various new permutations, the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system; and

generating and transmitting, to the radar transceiver, a new radar transmit frequency set, a new radar transmit power set, and a new radar transmit bandwidth set based on the new optimal permutation.

17. A non-transitory program storage device readable by a computer having a plurality of modules comprising a program of instructions executable by said computer to perform a method of operating a spectrum sensing radar system, said method comprising:

receiving, using a spectrum power sensing module, electromagnetic signal powers in the ambient electromagnetic environment in a plurality of sub-frequencies over the entire operational frequency band of the radar system sensed by a radar transceiver of the radar system;

generating, using said spectrum power sensing module, a sensed power set comprising groups of one or more of said plurality of sub-frequencies, each group having a start and an end frequency and a measure of the interference power of the group;

receiving, using a multi-objective function module, said sensed power set from said spectrum power sensing module;

performing, using said multi-objective function module, analysis on various permutations of each received group and contiguous combinations of the received groups of sub-frequencies by:

calculating a signal plus noise ratio (SINR) for each of said permutations, which comprises a received power function of a received radar signal for each permutation divided by the measure of interference power for each permutation; and

calculating the bandwidth for each permutation;

determining, using said multi-objective function module, the permutation from the various permutations, which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system; and

generating and transmitting, using said multi-objective function module, a radar transmit frequency set, a radar transmit power set, and a radar transmit bandwidth based on the determined optimal permutation to a radar transceiver of the radar system.

18. The program storage device of claim 17 , wherein the received power of the received radar signal of the permutation is defined as follows:

P r (β i )= P t G 2 λ 2 σN P /[(4π) 3 R 4 ],

where P t is the peak transmit power of the radar system, G is the antenna gain, λ is the wavelength of the carrier frequency, σ is the radar cross-section of the target, N p is the number of pulses within a coherent processing interval, and R is the range to target.

19. The program storage device of claim 18 , wherein said multi-objective function module is further configured to determine the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system comprises maximizing a first objective function of said SINR and a second objective function of said bandwidth for the permutation simultaneously, subject to said first objective function being greater than a minimum SINR pre-determined boundary, and subject to said second objective function being greater than a minimum bandwidth pre-determined boundary.

20. The program storage device of claim 17 , wherein said method further comprises:

repeating, by said spectrum power sensing module, said receiving of electromagnetic signal power in the ambient electromagnetic environment in said plurality of sub-frequencies over the entire operational frequency band of the radar system sensed by the radar transceiver of the radar system; and

generating, by said spectrum power sensing module, a new sensed power set comprising new groups of said plurality of sub-frequencies, each group having a start and an end frequency and a measure of the interference power of the group;

receiving, by said multi-objective function module, said new sensed power set from said spectrum power sensing module;

performing analysis on various new permutations of each received new group and contiguous combinations of the received new groups of sub-frequencies by recalculating, by said multi-objective function module, the SINR and bandwidth for each of the new permutations;

determining, from the various new permutations, the permutation which provides the optimal SINR and bandwidth for operation of said radar system; and

generating and transmitting, by said multi-objective function module, a new radar transmit frequency set, a new radar transmit power set, and a new radar transmit bandwidth set based on the new optimal permutation to the radar transceiver.